“By who?” asked Akira.

“I have no idea. The relay warning is only for when they are under attack and need reinforcements,” said Gu'red.

Ding!

New quest received!

Gountain city under attack!

An unknown force is attacking the city of Gountain. Help drive off the attack!

If you successfully defeat the entire force you will receive a bonus reward.

Accept? Y / N

Akira stood up along with the energetic Fluffball.

“Chack you need to keep Azura safe here. Zundar, Klyn, Mileena, and the rest of you come with me,” ordered Akira.

“I understand. I will keep her safe during her own battle!” said Chack as he stood ramrod straight and saluted Akira.

Azura stood up and kicked him in his padded butt.

“It's not a Battle!” she shouted.

“...I lie! It's just paperwork!”

“What are you planning to do!?” asked Gu'red.

“Take us to the tunnel connected to Gountain city, we'll help fight whoever it is.”

[+3 honor!]

Gu'red only paused for a moment before deciding to lead them through the many rows of bookshelves towards a large tunnel that the sound of the horn had come from.

As they entered and ran down the tunnel they passed many tunnels before reaching the main large tunnel which they followed until they reached a large spartan square room.

The room had several hundreds of small bunk beds carved into the stone walls all along the walls.

At the end of the room stood thirty or so dwarf warriors who were quietly muttering to themselves in front of a closed large stone gate.

“Open the gates!” shouted Gu'red.

“What for? The garrison force has already left,” asked an old dwarf with a large red nose and puffy cheeks.

“These guys want to help! Hurry!” said an agitated Gu'red.

The Dwarves guarding the stone gate looked at Akira and his odd assortment of companions and guards.

With a shrug, the older dwarf nodded to the other dwarves. Ten dwarves on each side of the gate pulled out the thick wooden beams securing the gate shut. With loud thuds, they were dropped to the ground.

Fifteen Dwarves on each side of the gate grabbed onto two large stone handles and pulled with all their might opening the gates just enough for Akira and co. to pass.

Akira was the first to pass through the doors into the dark tunnel followed by Fluffball, Mileena, and the others.

Although Gu'red had high stamina he was having a hard time keeping up with the rest of the group so Zundar picked him up and carried him like a sack of potatoes much to Gu'red's discomfort.

They continued to run for over ten minutes before they heard the heavy footsteps of the sturdy fully armored dwarf warriors.

It was the hundreds of garrison dwarf troops that had left a whole before Akira and co. They were all running at a steady pace as quick as their legs would allow. The entire tunnel was lit up by the running dwarf warriors that were carrying torches to light the way.

“Make way!” shouted Gu'red looking over his shoulder at the Dwarf warriors ahead of them.

“Coming through!” shouted Akira as he jumped over, twirled around, and squeezed past the dwarf warriors.

The group's appearance behind the warriors and rushing past them gave a great shock to some of the Dwarves that they fell on their butt holding their chest as their hearts raced wildly.

Akira and the rest of the group quickly passed the dwarf soldiers and continued running down the tunnel for another 30 minutes.

“We should be nearing the end of the tunnel!” shouted Gu'red.

ScreechCrackBam!

“#$%^&.”

The sound of a distant battle reached their ears just after Gu'red spoke. Somewhere ahead of them a loud sound of metal continuously clanging off of what sounded like stone rang out along with numerous curses in dwarvish.

As they exited the main tunnel Akira found himself once again in another spartan square barracks room.

The stone gates on the opposite side of the room were already slightly open and was the source of the fighting and cursing they had heard in the tunnel.

Ten dwarf warriors on each side of the gate doors were furiously pushing them forward trying to stem the flow of Molten Onyx Infected they were trying to swarm over the 60 or so heavily armored Dwarves armed maces and large shields that were almost as big as them.

They were in a life and death battle blocking the infected from entering the tunnel barracks and the many tunnels behind them.

A black mist covered Akira as he fully transformed into a fierce black-furred werewolf.

A dark Aura spread out lightly covering the allied forces around Akira.

Ding!

Leadership and Darkness Domain have strengthened all allied forces.

Allied forces' morale has risen to a point that they will not give up over a small matter such as being outnumbered.

Klyn finished chanting a holy spell and pointed a finger at Akira causing the holy light to cover his shield and warhammer creating a bizarre sight of a mixture of darkness and light.

Several of the Dwarves feeling the strong aura emitting from Akira turned their heads from the battle in front of them and stared with mouths open at the approaching group.

“Coming through!” growled Akira as he completely jumped over the dwarf warriors.

A full-sized Fluffball followed him along with Mileena, Zundar, Dolph and Vilkas, and the rest of the guards.

Klyn and the rest of the holy shaman did not jump into the fray, they stayed behind the dwarf shield wall and continued to chant buffs for the rest of the group.

Akira landed on top of a skinny human-formed Grunner and smashed its core with one swing of his one-handed Warhammer.

“Who are they?” a heavily armored dwarf asked Gu'red who had been dropped off behind the shield wall by Zundar.

Gu'red was still trying to settle his stomach from the unpleasant ride but managed to say, “Allies from Kodria.”

With the appearance of Akira and co. adding their power to the small group of Dwarves they were able to push the molten onyx infected away from the gates of the tunnel.

The Dwarven Warriors fighting along with Akira were quick at picking up and learning to attack the crystals on the special Infected that had been causing them so much trouble.

Akira took a quick second to assess the situation outside the tunnel gates.

In the waning sunlight, he could see a large frozen basin shaped like a bowl. The edges on the entire right and left of the basin lead to a sharp fall where nothing could be seen.

As he looked out he could see that there were currently four separate battles happening.

Seeing Akira inspecting the battlefield a nearby dwarf in-between swinging his mace at an infecteds head, shouted out, “We were caught off guard and separated.”

The battle at the south tunnel connected to the northern end of the basin was where Akira and the small group of Dwarves were fighting.

Not that far away from the southern tunnel was a second force of nearly a thousand Dwarven warriors fighting the molten onyx infected that were blocking them from accessing the large stone gates of Gountain city.

The third battle was at the north tunnel on the opposite side of the basin from the south tunnel. The Dwarven warriors from several other cities were trying to push through the swarm of infected and help clear the area up and join the main force near the city gates.

The last battle was a small group of 100 or so heavily armored warriors that had been cut off from the forces at the north tunnel. Although they were extremely stout and sturdy, they were being slowly pushed back towards the basin's upper-right edge.

“Awooo!” Akira let out a howl and pointed his war hammer to the battle at the main gates.

With his command, those under his command started to help battle clear a path to the main gates.

The Dwarf warriors from Ribor city arrived moments later and without hesitation charged out to join Akira and the rest of the werewolves.

They knew that scattered forces needed to link up together so that they could present a united front and push the molten onyx infected back out of the basin.

When the Dwarves at the main gates saw Akira and the other Dwarves crushing the enemy with such great power they let out several cheers and shouts in dwarvish.

“Fight!” “Fight!” “Stand strong as stone!” shouted several of the Dwarven officers.

As Akira neared the main force their morale rose as [Dark domain] covered them and gave them a boost.

The combined werewolf and dwarf force was able to fully push the Molten Onyx Infected back away from the south tunnel and connect up with the main force in front of the main gates.

Akira did not stop at the main gates.

“Awooo!” he let out another howl and pointed towards the north tunnel.

The howl sent shivers down the back of the several thousands of Dwarves who were all glad that he was fighting alongside them and not against them.

Akira and Fluffball and Zundar were at the front of the charge smashing, bashing, and clobbering the molten onyx infected out of the way to connect up with those at the north tunnel.

Now with the three forces consolidated they were able to start pushing back on the swarms of Molten onyx infected.

The infected that had been somewhat scattered between the four battles were now more consolidated. They were giving a stiffer resistance now that they were only fighting on two fronts.

“I'll be right back!” shouted Akira.

He activated the skill [Shield Slam] and rushed forward plowing through the infected, pushing tens if not hundreds of the infected off the edge of the basin as he made his way to the small group of trapped Dwarven warriors.

Unfortunately, his skill was only effective enough to create a path for several seconds before the Molten Onyx Infected swarmed again blocking Mileena and the rest of the werewolves and Dwarves. The only one that managed to follow alongside him was fluffball.

“We’re here to take you back to the main force!” growled Akira as he smashed his way through the encirclement.

“You're just going to be trapped here along with us!” shouted a long gray-bearded dwarf warrior who was using a two-handed Warhammer that looked to weigh as much as Akira.

Bam!

The warhammer swung forward and slammed into several infected crumbling several already damaged stone arms and legs.

“Just follow me! I'll make sure to clear you a path!” growled Akira.

Step by step Akira helped lessen the pressure on their left flank and allowed them to head north towards the forces that were now fully gathered and pushing back on the infected.

Mileena, his guards, and Zundar were fiercely fighting on the front lines to try and meet back up with Akira.

Hundreds of Infected were being knocked off the edge as Akira and the Dwarves tried to rejoin the main force.

“SCREEEE!”

Fwoosh!

An unknown winged creature swooped down from the now dimly lit sky.

It grabbed onto two of the dwarf warriors next to Akira and flapped its wings to lift them into the air before releasing them over the edge of the basin.

Akira looked up at the new enemy staring at it intently. It was covered in black stony skin just like the Molten Onyx Infected that he was fighting on the ground.

[Bryer lvl 120]

The [Bryer] flew higher into the sky and swirled around for another attack.

Before it started to dive down for a second attack, Akira used his potty mouth skill, “You @#%^ bird brain! Come fight me!”

The [Bryer] focused on Akira with its new hatred and dived at him with its sharp black stony claws wide open.

At the last moment, Akira stepped to the side and jumped up into the air swinging his warhammer at the wing right in front of him.

The [Bryer] immediately tucked in its wing and twirled out of his reach while simultaneously using one of its claws to grab onto Akira's outstretched arm.

Before it could unfurl its wings and fly up into the air, it was hit right in the chest by the two-handed war hammer from the graybeard dwarf warrior.

Fluffball joined the attack with a headbutt. The two attacks plus Akira's weight caused the [Bryer] to crash into the ground dragging Akira and Fluffball along with it as it rolled to the edge of the basin and fell over the side.

Akira tried to grab onto several of the frozen vines at the edge but they broke from the weight and...

...they were falling...

...disappearing into the darkness.