The fire arrow hit the red-skinned beast right as he lifted his arm to strike down. It didn’t seem to do more than sting and lightly burn the mace-wielding Kruwal, but it distracted him enough that Orson, slow and weak as he was now, could land a knee-busting blow with his massive wooden post.

The Kruwal cried and fell awkwardly to the ground. Alex could see the shattered bone sticking out, but he didn’t give the monster’s pain any consideration. Three more fire arrows struck the felled Kruwal in quick succession, but he only crossed his arms in front of his face and weathered the spells like they were no more than bee stings.

Alex scowled, frustrated. With the mayor fighting the Kruwal so close up, he couldn’t use his more destructive traces in such a small space. And it seemed that despite his jump in power, his simpler spells weren’t enough to outright kill the Kruwals.

It made sense too. He’d felt the gravelly skin when he grabbed Scarface. That thing was tough as leather-hide. He didn’t imagine the other Kruwals were any weaker.

But while getting the kills and the subsequent experience would’ve been nice, that wasn’t his focus now. It couldn’t be.

Settling his dagger back in its sheath, Alex rushed toward the mayor. Dead centre on the mouth of the bridge, Orson was holding his own against a single Kruwal now, but his breathing was ragged and his movements had lost their previous sharpness.

“Daven, get over here!” Alex yelled.

The sounds of fighting rang loud in the air as he ran, metal clanging against metal, shields splintering. Valerian and Cedric were being pressed to their limits, but he forced himself to do what was in front of him. One thing at a time, man.

Heat coursed through his arms as he quickly prepared and loosed another pair of fire arrows.The spells zipped through the air and his aim proved true as one of the arrows struck the monster fighting Orson dead in the eye.

The Kruwal dropped limblessly like a puppet with its strings cut. Bee stings or not, a shot to the brain seemed to do the trick. If he ever learned how to control his powers from far away, the fire arrow could prove to be one of his deadliest traces.

Sliding to a stop next to Orson, Alex was just in time to hold him up as he lost his balance and stumbled, letting the wooden post clatter to the ground. The weight of the round-bellied mayor settled on Alex’s shoulder like a boulder and he almost wheezed. His strength attribute wasn’t nearly enough for this.

“Are you alright, Master Orson?” Alex asked.

The mayor let out a watery cough. “Just a tad out of practice son,” he said with a strained smile. “Nothing that a mug of my stout ale won’t heal.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, looking up and down the Orson’s figure. The mayor looked like he could barely hold himself up. His face was drained of color, his white whiskers black with soot. Blood had pooled through his shirt in a diagonal line where the Kruwal had slashed him across the chest.

If they weren’t in the middle of a barbarian raid the likes of which even the romans would balk at, Alex would insist on calling up an ambulance and rushing Orson to the nearest hospital. But they were in the middle of a barbarian raid, with no phones and no hospitals to speak of.

In these circumstances, who was he to interfere in a man’s pride to stand under his own power?

“You should head back for now,” he said simply. If anything, the villagers might be better equipped to save their mayor and innkeeper. “I’ll take over for you.”

Grunting, Orson straightened himself up with some difficulty and patted Alex on the shoulder with a heavy hand. “Guess it really is time I leave this to you young folk, then.” He looked about himself for a second, then back toward the eastern side of the village beyond the bridge. He smiled down at Alex. Blood on his teeth. “I know that she’ll be in good hands.”

Alex was quite sure the village of Riverbend wouldn’t be in anyone’s hands at the end of the day, as he had every intention of burning it to the ground if it meant they could escape with their lives. But he wisely kept that grim thought to himself. Somehow, Alex didn’t think it was the kind of thing the man would want to hear now.

The mayor staggered off with trudging steps then, back toward the barricade on the bridge. All the villagers had gone through already, but Alex could still see movement on the gap left through the stacked up carts and packed earth.

He frowned. They should’ve left by now. It was the whole reason for them making their stand here.

Unless...

His eyes widened. They’re trying to fortify the village. He balked for a moment, then shook his head. Idiots. The idea was so stupid but also so obvious now that he thought about it. These were village people. Likely, Riverbend was all they’d ever known. They wouldn’t abandon it so easily.

Brave idiots, yes, but idiots all the same.

Daven’s panicked voice brought him back to the bridge. “Alex!”

He turned. The archer was running up to him, Diana hanging lifelessly on his back. At the sight, Alex’s stomach clenched, a spike of dread spreading through him like poison.

“She’s out, man,” said Daven, stopping beside him. His shirt was sodden with sweat, his cheeks red with effort. “Her mana ran out.”

Relief flooded Alex’s brain, but only for a moment.

“Shit,” he whispered, biting his lip.

In the grand scheme of things, this wasn’t any better when it came to their chances of getting out alive. He’d hoped to conscript Diana into helping him hold off the horde as they retreated, but she looked half-past dead on her brother’s back.

Breathing out heavily, Alex forced himself to shrug. No matter. Sometimes you just gotta make due with the cards you were given.

“Alright, just take her back beyond the barricade,” he said. “The mayor ’s already gone ahead. It’s past time we take our leave too.”

“What about the others?”

Alex glanced toward their last two fighters and grimaced. Their situation hadn’t improved. If anything, it had gotten all the more dire. Cedric had left a trail of wounded Kruwal groaning on the ground as he retreated, but he was limping now, a dark patch forming on his left pant leg.

Alex watched as the crew leader used every bit of skill in his arsenal, twirling his spear in the air, parrying sword slashes and deflecting heavier blows. Even with only one useful leg, Cedric fought like a dancer, hopping on one foot as sure as he glided on two.

But he’d clearly tried to attract the Kruwal away from the bridge as he fell back, and he would soon have his back against the river. There’d be nowhere to retreat then.

On the other side of the bridge, Valerian had gone the opposite route. Perhaps he’d seen the way Orson and Diana were struggling and had moved to cover the middle of the bridge in case they failed. He was some twenty yards in front of them, fighting furiously with three Kruwal warriors, all four of them bleeding from cuts and slashes along their torso.

Even then, Valerian wasn’t the fighter Cedric was. Though he was admirably holding the line against three of them, Alex caught the moment a hard light construct protecting Valerian’s shoulder shattered under the heavy strike of a war-axe. Golden particles seemed to scatter in the air.

Valerian didn’t even flinch, just kept on fighting.

Alex’s eyebrows furrowed. He wouldn’t last long. With Diana out of the field of play, the only thing stopping the bridge from being overrun was the infighting between the Kruwal. It was an outright brawl over Scarface’s body. The red-skinned warriors were howling and smashing each other with their fists and every blunt weapon they could find.

If they anyone of them came out the winner, Valerian would prove a poor defender on his own.

And despite the brutality of it, Alex noticed that they weren’t killing each other. It was more a slug match than anything. But whatever it was, he could make use of it.

“I’ll take care of it. I have an idea on how to hold them off for good.” Tearing his eyes away from the Kruwal, he turned to Daven. “Just go and tell the villagers to pile up anything flammable they can find up on the bridge. I’ll deal with the rest”

Daven’s pock-marked face scrunched up. “Uhh. By that, you mean…”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Anything that burns, Daven. You know the hot, orange thing I can make with my hands? I’m going to do that to the bridge.”

“Oh, yeah, flamebabble, o’ course, gotcha.” Nodding profusely, Daven shifted Diana on his shoulders and left toward the barricade, muttering under his breath about unnecessarily big city words.

Shaking his head, Alex let the power once again flood the coiled pathways inside him. Levelling up was always like a concentrated shot of caffeine. He felt buzzing with energy, ready to take on the whole world. The high was similar to when he topped up his attributes, and it was an easy trap to fall into.

When he’d raised his power attribute before the fight, he’d been arrogant enough to believe the Kruwals would have no answer to his fire vortexes. That lasted until he found himself under Scarface’s mercy. If Daven hadn’t come to his rescue, well…

He decided he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

With Valerian’s frame and the left-side bridge railing blocking Alex’s angle of attack, he ran out toward the area in front of the bridge to get in a better firing position, traces already forming in both his hands. He was counting on the bulk of the horde being distracted enough to give him time to deal with the more pressing need of helping the others.

And as soon as he had the Kruwal in sight, the fireballs and fire arrows left his hand just as quickly as they crackled into being. Alex wanted nothing more than to pull out whips of fire or even try to make animated constructs out of the flames, but he knew it wasn’t the right time to reinvent the wheel.

He simply started peppering the monsters on both sides with everything he had, throwing the fireballs a step behind the Kruwals so he wouldn’t run the risk of hitting one of his crew mates.

A fireball exploded near the feet of a club-wielding warrior circling Cedric, and the Kruwal tripped and fell over another of his comrades. Cedric was quick to take advantage, batting a sword away with the butt of his spear and stabbing the two downed Kruwals with its long blade. Soon, he was on the one pressing his advantage against the two Kruwal still battling him.

Alex smiled as he had even better luck with Valerian. The paladin was fighting without his signature golden hard-light even on the blade of his great axe now, but the fireballs detonating behind the Kruwals did more than enough to shake them off their game and give Valerian some breathing room.

A roar of fire erupted as if the place was being carpet bombed when Alex pumped one of the fireballs with double its usual power. One of the Kruwals shirked, covering his head, and Valerian was quick to capitalize on the mistake by way of disembowelment. The great axe opened the Kruwal’s belly in one quick swipe, intestines and viscera spilling onto the ground.

A trio of the fire arrows rained down on a helmet-wearing Kruwal, hitting him all over his body. None struck the eye through the visor like Alex wanted, but one set the monster’s padded shirt on fire. He howled like a pig as the fire quickly spread, dropping and rolling on the ground desperately.

“Time to go, then?”

Alex swivelled his head. Cedric was jogging up to him, using his spear as a clutch whenever he stepped with his left foot. Kruwal bodies littered the riverbank behind him. The turf there was stained red with blood.

As he approached, Alex noticed his leg wasn’t the only injury the crew leader had accrued. Aside from a general dishevelment of torn clothes and dirty skin, there was a deep cut on his right shoulder that left a red line on his shirt, and the whole right side of his face was bruised purple and starting to swell up as if someone had dashed his head against a rock.

Still, Cedric kept a confident smile as if this was just another day at the office.

Alex just nodded. “More than time.”