Ralph looked over the wall noticing periodic flashes from the tree line. In only a few hours they had been hit with three different waves of goblins. Each time the Goblins assaulted the eastern wall with no inclination to circle the village of Hillcrest. The stone wall was holding up well considering Earl Tirebrook was helping to patch it between waves. Ralph considered how lucky they were to have picked him up back at the bouncy fort. Arrows were doing the bulk of the fighting while a line of guardsman and Deep Dwellers were arrayed the gate to their back. The Deep Dwellers didn’t just kill the goblins, they lay into them with almost reckless abandoned. It even seemed that when one goblin spotted a Deep Dweller it pulled other goblins off their targets to attack them. The centuries of racial hatred must run deep.

The situation turned when an orange skinned goblin appeared in the last wave. It began to softly glow as it got closer to the front of the line. Someone inspected it and relayed that it was called a Goblin Blaster. All archers were shifted to that target, and it detonated about thirty feet away from the wall. The wall shook knocking most of those present to the ground. Cracks began running through the masonry of the wall. The goblins were not spared, all in the blast radius were horribly maimed. The same went for two of the Deep Dwellers that were on the line closest to the blast. They were pulled back inside the walls.

“This doesn’t make any sense. There weren’t this many goblins in the camp. Where are they all coming from?” Ralph asked out loud.

“I think the flashes have something to do with it. It seems odd to me that they’d incur so many losses for this small village,” Tantus tried answering focusing on the tree line.

“Do you think you could extend the battle table in the office to cover that area?” Ralph queried.

“Yes, yes. It’s possible but we would lose the western parts of the town. You may want to think about sending more guardsman that way. I’ll heal up some of the injured below and make the adjustments,” Tantus answered.

“You know we’re going to have to go out there, right?” Amanda asked elbowing Ralph.

“If we can keep them out without risking lives, we should at least try. I’m more concerned about why Deacon hasn’t shown up yet. Do you think he’s in—” Ralph was cut off when the sound of buzzing could be heard over the battlefield. Ralph tried to bark out orders but the self-appointed general finally appeared on the walls.

The regnant of Hillcrest stood at the walls and began chanting. A purple and green magic circle appeared around his feet. Within the circle were runes and glyphs of all types slowly interlocking with each other as he concentrated. The sky above the current goblin wave started to darken and swirl with purple-green light. The light grew brighter and brighter before a rain of objects started pelting the enemy. It started out small with trowels and small hammers. Then fence posts and unfurling spools of barbed wire began swirling through the area impaling and ripping goblins to shreds. Then came the livestock. Cows, goats, chickens, Emu, and whinnying horses struck like boulders launched from catapults. The effects were devastating to the enemy, but the effective area kept growing and growing. At this rate, the war working would swallow the town.

“General, you have to stop. This is too much for this minor conflict. We haven’t even seen their elites yet!” Ralph screamed at the top of his lungs at the regnant who was looking pale and wrung out. He finally passed out from the powerful working and Ralph ordered him brought back inside. He looked out onto the battlefield and found large green vehicles with enormous rear wheels dotting the landscape. Ralph had no idea what they were supposed to be.

Deacon opened his eyes and tried to stand immediately falling back down to the ground from the pain in his leg. The good news was the wound was cauterized when the fire lance went through it. Bad news was he was out of potions. He didn’t even have ingredients on him to make a pill with his dry freezing process. He really needed to get back to alchemy. With no party members in sight, he was going to have to figure something else out. His health bar was down to one hundred fifteen percent. Not too bad but that last slate message told him Caphida was in here too. He need to find a place to hide or rely on his gear to deal with him. In the bag he still had the compass from the first Wode and his adventurers die. Both objects that weren’t with him the first time they fought. Deacon had also been working on his aura in the days of travel before they made it to the village. He thinks he might be able replicate that heat barrier Caphida was using in their fight.

Considering what he was taught by Old Pai, folding your aura in around yourself granted you better control. Deacon wondered if he could take that a step further. He knew there were some hidden effects to each of the five hells he had access too. As an example, when he first showed up here, he created nether ice absent mindedly in his immediate area. It was just leaking out. In fact, that’s how he met Old Pai. What if he could just focus that affect around his torso? Like when he stopped the bleeding from the injury that Vasilly noble gave him. Only on a grander scale. First things first, Deacon thought as looked around at his environment.

Deacon was in a small cave no larger than his room back at the guild. It had one large opening that lead out into a forest. What he could see from here were very overgrown trees with ivy looping between branches. The ground was covered in multi-colored grass and there were small patches of different plant life strewn about. He hobbled out of the cave for a better look and noticed the sun was high in the sky. That told him it was about mid-day. The trees were even bigger than his initial estimates. His eyes were drawn to a pink flower with little blue pollen tubes jutting from inside. He reached down to touch it and got an item prompt.

Valiso Flower- This flower is used in many alchemical concoctions. Beware the mishandling of herbs can cause unpleasant effects.

That name was familiar to Deacon. He checked his slate for his known alchemy recipes and there it was in the recipe for regen potions. He would also need Coralis Lichen and some animal fat. He scrunched up his eyebrows at the last ingredient. Why did that make regen potions? To say Deacon ripped up all the Valiso flowers leaving the ground barren of life would be an understatement. Everything went into his bag including the soil they were growing in.

The air in the area was almost sweet as Deacon continued to stumble around. That was when he noticed the shadows of the trees moving much faster than they should. He looked up and the sun was in the late afternoon position. That didn’t make any sense to him. It was just noon a few minutes ago. That’s when he heard the sound of breaking branches, and something came crashing through the foliage. It happened so fast, Deacon thought he might have imagined it. Just over his left shoulder stood a humanoid in what looked like Qing dynasty era armor holding a wooden staff with golden round metal ends. His mutton chops were pronounced, and his facial features were very simian. He also had long monkeys tail.

“Run you idiot. That’s two morons now,” said the monkey man in a heavy east Asian accent as he passed Deacon. In flash jumping into the trees disappearing from the clearing entirely. Soon after various kinds of wildlife began crashing through the underbrush. Rabbits, deer, elk, moose, cats, dogs, squirrels, you name it. Deacon had to activate ghastly defense just so they would all part around him as they ran. Once that wave finished Deacon heard the huffing and puffing of another humanoid. Caphida stumbled into the clearing looking worse for wear.

“This is your fault. That winged monstrosity at the coliseum was right. You’re going to destroy this world. I only wish I could stay and watch you get what you deserve,” huffed Caphida. He was bruised all over and obviously at a stamina deficit. He limped past Deacon without a second look. His eyes focused on the horizon.

Deacon was flabbergasted. Caphida seemed not to even care about him anymore. He wondered what the hell happened to him since they were separated in this Wode. Then Deacon heard a sound that would haunt his nightmares forever. It was the steady rhythm of something eating. Something big eating. Something enormous eating. The sky started to darken as the sun had begun to set. Trees began to fall in the direction all the animals had come from, and Deacon knew if he didn’t get moving right now, he never would. He grabbed up a nearby stick and began limping away. He spared a second for one glance back to see a gargantuan maw chewing everything.