Crack!

The final barrier collapsed, and many screamed in terror.

The beasts rushed forward like a flood.

Boom!

"Aaah!"

A warrior screamed at the top of his lungs as a ball of flames made its way through the gaps in their defense and exploded on his chest.

He was tossed back like a rag doll and landed heavily on the ground. It was unclear if he was dead or just unconscious, but he was not moving anymore. Blood also started pooling around him.

"Damn it! I refuse to die like this!"

Faced with a desperate situation, warriors gripped their weapons and prepared themselves for the last struggle of their lives. They were ready to die with their enemies!

Before they could do that, however…

"Get back!"

After the shout, the ground trembled, and a field of thorns formed a perimeter between the humans and monsters.

Xilia was desperately breaking the seals on the Thorns' spell scrolls and casting them around their group nonstop. The sudden appearance of those sharp fast-growing rocks pushed the monsters back and gave them a moment of respite.

"Quickly! Help me with the barriers!" she shouted and busied herself with casting layers upon layers of ice around themselves.

Sera quickly helped her with the scrolls and in no time at all, they created a thick ice dome with dangerous-looking stone spikes sticking out of it.

"I'm out! I don't have any more Ice Barriers!" announced Xilia and sat down in exhaustion.

Igrit looked at the monstrosity the girls just created and sucked in a cold breath. At first, she considered using this type of magic as a waste, but now she was glad they had on their team someone crazy enough to burn so much money.

At least they should be safe for a while.

The beasts on the other side became wary after getting impaled by ice, stone, and arrows multiple times, but that didn't stop the assault. Quite the opposite!

Both Orc and Goblin Shamans restarted their fiery bombardment, quickly chipping away at the last defensive barrier the humans made.

Although both Sera and Elly had more scrolls at their disposal, there was nowhere to go anymore! The barrier shrunk to a diameter of three meters and the people inside were quite cramped already.

"Where is Gerald?! Why is he still not here?!"

Sera gave a wry smile, "You know him… It's probably best if we don't rely on him to save us this time. We'll get through this together!"

"Fuck!"

***

Indeed, where was Gerald? It was already quite a while since he left the capital, and by all accounts, he should be already at his destination. It's just that…

"I had a dream that someday…

I would just fly, fly away!

And I always knew I couldn't stay…

So I had a dream that I would just, fly awaaaaay…."

He was singing while gliding, with not a care in the world! Free like a bird, he was going up and down, doing loops and enjoying the freedom the magic granted him.

"I love this world!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He was truly in a good mood.

"It should be here somewhere, let me see…" He shielded his face from the sun and looked down where the cave entrance should be.

"What the… Is that them? Why does it look like they are only ten people there? And are those Orcs? Did the entire expedition get annihilated?!"

Gerald's expression suddenly hardened and he stopped fooling around. A shield appeared in his left hand, and a spear in his right.

"Iron Body!" he shouted.

Mana surged through his body, and his entire being started giving off a feeling of invincibility.

"Death to the monsters!" he roared in the sky and suddenly started plummeting down like a rock.

His target?

The leader!

***

ROAR!

Boom! Boom! Crack!

The final barrier was completely broken through, and pieces of stone and ice lay strewn across the battlefield. The human warriors were panting hard, with the few mages remaining already unconscious.

There were only four members of the Phoenix Knights that remained on the surface, but now only two were left standing.

Igrit and another guy were panting heavily and their hands were shaking from fear and exhaustion while blood dripped from various wounds all over their body.

They had nowhere to go and were at the mercy of the beasts. But how could they accept that?!

They fought like mad for their freedom, but no matter how many weaklings they killed, the Orcs kept a tight lock on their position, without a single gap in the encirclement.

The girls already exhausted their spell scrolls as well as most of their Mana and were now little more than fodder.

Although they had weapons, and were decent with the sword, when surrounded by opponents with superior strength there was little they could do.

Xilia was guarding Qiona behind her, and Elly created a thorn field around them. Still, that didn't stop those lustful and bloodthirsty monsters from trying to get to them. It was just more of a fun challenge.

"If I don't survive," Igrit said while panting, "Tell my family that I love them. Also, tell my enemies that I hate them… As for the rest, tell them that I don't care-"

Bang!

Suddenly a full metal spear fell from the sky and penetrated an Orc in a brutal way. It pierced through the top of his chest, near his shoulder, and came out on the other side near his waist, pinning him on the ground.

Awwooooo!

The Orc roared in pain, but his screams were soon squashed. Literally!

Boom!

A cloud of dust rose into the air while stones and blood sprayed outward, showering both beasts and humans alike. Both sides cautiously took a step back and the battle came to a momentary halt.

"Ow, ow, ow! My knees! That hurt like a bitch!"

As the cloud of dust started to clear they also heard some curses about blood being everywhere, as well as sand and dust getting in places it shouldn't.

"Damn it, I thought this landing would be cool, but then the physics had to come and ruin it. The movies lied to me!" Gerald complained loudly and wiped the fresh Orc's blood off his face, before gripping the spear that was pierced through the beast below his feet.

"Oh wait, this was not the leader?" Gerald looked at the squashed beast closer and realized it was just a normal Orc Scout, the weakest of his rank.

"Damn, I guess I must have misjudged..."

Giving a quick look at the area around, he saw many beast corpses, but strangely, only a few human ones.

"Oh, hey! You are still alive!" Gerald waved at his team members, when he noticed them, with a smile. "That's good! I was almost worried for a moment there!"