the last stance
The bellows of victory resound in the momently silent settlement, as all directed there gaze toward the thundering sound they just heard. Every villager and even the guards shivered and weep at it, knowing that the door had fallen.
Those cries immediately turned into guzzling sound as the twang of a bowstring respond successively before all heard crashing sounds.
"It not the end." Whispered Josh, as his eye widens at the realisation that Alex just took down what crushed the gate. "It not the end!" Shot him louder, gathering the attention of the remaining twenty-eight guard. "We have still a man defending the gate! How can we flatter when he faces alone greater peril than ourselves?! Fight for Tiris!"
"For Tiris!"
The shout of roosted guard resounds deeply in the settlement, rekindling the flame of the quivering hope villagers felt, knowing they hadn't been abandoned yet.
The exhausted guards bolstered by their captain' inspirational words, raised their shield once again, striking with renewed vigour at the endless sea of goblins surrounding them.
"Crave a passage to the walls, don't let them keep us surrounded! Fight!"
Josh barely emitted those word that he was already hacking at the nearest goblins towards the wall, momently clearing a small path. Immediately filling the gap, the guards raised their shield once in position, protecting their comrades.
Slowly, space was carved, allowing those entrapped to flee in and clear the path further.
~~~
Alex immediately nocked an arrow near the gate and shot at the still posturing hobgoblins after crashing the gate. When they only stumble with arrows to the head, he immediately shoots three other to each, aiming at their knees and back, where the heart was.
Seeing them down and not raising, Alex relaxed for a second before CS admonishing voice resounds harshly in his head.
-It's not the time to daydream! They're coming!-
Woken up by the shout, he made volt-face, his eyes landing on the incoming army.
The endless stream forming seems like a never-ending nightmare. With the goblins outside, the variants inside and the remaining hobgoblin appear like a general, leading its troop from the arrow formation's most secure position.
~~~
Too far to see the exact detail, Alex nonetheless observes that a variant group remains behind, surrounding it, while the rest of the force ran to the wide-open entry of the settlement.
Looking to his arrows' stocks, he sees two-third had used in the half-hour since the start of the assault. Looking back at the running goblins, he could see that he was vastly under-armed to face them.
Neither less, he steadily nocked and released arrows, making the frontline crumble and trips those behind. The goblins were so close to each other than the action had a catastrophic effect on the rest.
More and more crashed to the ground with a domino effect, some stomped and crushed to death under the weight of those behinds. As the falls, the impact spread to the side, separating the force into three: those at the front, unaffected. Those in the middle, taking the burn of the attack. Those behinds, having enough time to stop.
~~~
Not wasting time, he sniped down the remaining running goblins while those at the end contoured those attempting to raise, still groggy from the fall, and not dead.
The halting of the rush brought Alex some seconds but soon the assault re-started, with the rest spreading to avoid a similar effect.
-Fuck, they have to be intelligent now!- Cursed CS at the line slowly forming.
Alex only grunted, both to respond and to make his displeasure know.
'I can't continue like this eternally, my fingers start to feel numbs, and I burn through my arrows to rapidly.'
CS hesitated before answering. I made sure you keep a couple of arrows back, I think I have the means to deal massive damage, but they need to be closely grouped and exhausting. I will only tell you if they have none other choices.-
'Will do, thank buddy.'
-Stay alive that All I ask you.- Responded him worriedly. It was only their third day in this world, and Alex was already undergoing a life-threatening situation, in proportion they never affronted before.
'It in time like this, I wish I had my storage. I could have just dropped a large boulder and close the gate.'Said him wishfully.
-It because of thoughts like those that Mother deprived you of your storage!- Snapped CS back.- It precisely for a situation like those, where you can't rely on it, that she send us here, now stop being a pussy and shoot down those fuking goblins!-
Alex knows that CS had nothing against him, that the situation merely stressed him, so he wisely chose to shut up and focus on the incoming pack.
~~~
As the distance dwindle, Alex was starting to despair. His stock of arrows had reduced to less than fifty and was dangerously leading him to his last set of thirty. The distance between the goblins and the wall was less than thirty metres, and the hobgoblin group had yet to make a move.
Pulling yet another arrows, Alex heard CS mentally count thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight and lower as he fire.
At barely four left, the goblins were nearly on the walls. Alex was about to run through the gate when he heard them.
"Men, aim. Fire!"
A rain of arrows shooted from the wall on his both side, impacting the incoming wave once again gathered. Bodies fall by tens in a single second, clearing a metre or two from the packed goblins. The guards' presence on the gate side immediately took off a large part of Alex's shoulder burden.
Leaving them the goblins, Alex reserved his remaining arrows to the group of eight variants still alive. Digging deeper in his reserve, he pulled the bow to the limit, before releasing arrows as if there were bolts of thunders.
Every four of the released arrows had enough power to transpierce a variant, and the one behind, finishing one of the larger threat. By the time those four were released, the guards had harvested another four dozen goblins in two flights of arrows.
~~~
As much as the guards' support lighten Alex burden, the pack was now at the wall. Rapidly putting the bow away, Alex retrieved three knives and jumped at the incoming goblins. The guards at the barricades were transfigurated by the young therianthrope stamina, seeing him mow down the goblins like nothing.
Snapping out of their state, they assisted him as much as possible in shooting the still smattering of late comer at the end of the forming group. Once their arrows stock wholly exhausted, they drew their blood-smeared blade and rushed down to Alex's side.
~~~
As much as he was willing, Alex mind and body were starting to wear out, exhausted by the nearing two hours of the onslaught. Added to this, Alex first wounds started to appears. While only small scratches and light cuts, Alex hadn't the force to dodge, to conserve the maximum of energy fore the still incoming affronement.
His newly crafted blades were christened in the river of blood they extract for the goblins. Only the presence of the third blade, held by his tail, was preventing too many goblins from sneaking and back-stab him. Still, he was using a bit of energy every time he swung his blades, on soon; he would found himself overwhelmed by their numbers.
CS was doing everything to preserve his mental state, not letting him succumb to pressure, and made a fatal mistake in a stressed state.
Thankfully, reinforcement wasn't long to came, and in second, the guards cleared the goblins off his back and stood by his side. No words were exchanged between them, only short nods, before they repel the invading race, holding the gate still.
As one, they hacked, pierce, sliced and protected the one on their side, knowing that, should one fall, the others would soon follow.
As corpse pilled to their feet, the defending force hadn't other choice but slight fall back, or risk to exhaust themselves in keeping raising their arms to deal with the critters crawling on their dead' back to attack them.
The tidal seems endless, and after seemingly hours of effort, a natural dig formed at their feet, closing the access to the gate, raising at least to their chest. When the last of the goblins seem killed, the guards crumbled on the ground, completely drained. Even if they know that a still more significant threat was lingering outside their walls, their bodies were unable to cope, their minds wore out, living them to the brink of unconsciousness.
~~~
Of all, only Alex had still the strength to force his body to move. Painstakingly leading it to climb the stair on the side of the destroyed gate, bitting his lips against the pain racking his sore muscles, he nearly crumbles at the top, short of breath.
Gritting his teeth and hardening his will, he moved again, bearing his gaze at the horizon, were the group of variants and hobgoblin were still observing the settlement, standing like a threatening sword menacing to behead the powerless.
Like a thread snapping, the group finally move. The thundering sound of their steps racking in the minds of the guards, like the death knell ringing, announcing their doom.
'It now or never CS.' Said Alex, mustering his strength to keep awake.
-I know your exhausted, your body at it limit, but they're still something in you that is not your magic.- At his words, Alex's eyes burned a new light.
'What do you want me to do.' His voice, stronger than before.
-Take out the variant core you had, overload it with your magic, until it cracks and shoots it. If I'm right, you would feel a string of connection to it, allowing you a single spell.-
'If not?'
-If not, let's hope the resulting magical burst would be enough to take them all out, or we are doomed.- Solemnly said CS to Alex, before cutting the connexion, leaving Alex to pour his entire focus in the task.
~~~
Retrieving the core, he pushed all he could in the core, making it shine more and more until he heard the faintest crack. Taking out an arrow, he slapped the core on the arrowhead, merging it with the slightest bond he could, before taking out his bow.
Nocking the arrow, he pulled the bowstring to its maximum for the last time. Aiming at the incoming group, not fifty metres far, he released the strike.
Fighting to stay awake, he traced the arrow path. Feeling the jolt of the leaking magic as the core cracked further at the impact, he muttered.
"Incendio" before darkness claim him as he caught the blazing explosion shroud the goblins.
~~~
As the explosion rung, and the earth trembles, all villagers cowered in their house, tightening the grasp they had on each other while praying for the one fighting outside.