A Full Blown Massacre

Evan stared at the battlefield in front him.

The screams of his falling comrades, their heads and bodies devoured by the Scorpix. Blood gushing out of the wounds, whilst the the beasts nibbled at their food, before they realize that they have already been stabbed at their head. However, the people eaten were already dead. Either by blood loss or hemorrhage due to getting beaten back and forth.

They were fighting a losing war, seeing the adventurers lose morale. Some even escape for their life, only to be ambushed by the monsters and devoured slowly, making their dying moment as painful as hell.

The warzone continued still, as he gripped his bow and supported wherever he was needed. He ran anywhere and everywhere, saving or failing to rescue a soldier, seeing them die while getting their faces devoured in front of him. He only shot the monster, and left his comrade, battered and weakened by the countless fights he did, for the sake of a few days. He never can give a merciful death, hoping that by through luck, they'll meet again.

He stopped at a cliff, scanning his surroundings, seeing they were already surrounded. The huge black beasts outnumbered them 10 to 1. Even then, he never gave up.

He shouted at the top of his lungs, signifying a battle cry and shot at anywhere he could. If only he weren't held by the promise of the past, maybe then, could he save much more lives.

Maybe then, Ezekiel wouldn't leave them to die.

>:T

Thirty minutes before the war...

"Are you sure the Scorpix only span by a thousand?" Zach asked, clad in grey armor, watching Miranna analyze the horde through her observers. A blue panel has been shown at the table, letting them see how the Scorpix horde has lessened for the past couple of months.

They were still inside the inn, though the atmosphere was grim to the panic and eerie silence of the town.

The villagers that lived there were brought to the nearby forests and mountains, to make sure that, if they ever fail to defend the town, they can leave with haste as the adventurers stay behind and fight till their last breathe. Giving them a bit of time to escape while the fighters were faced with an inevitable death.

The inn still looked the same as before, except only for the numerous panels Miranna laid and the communication lines that were set up to give the latest information about the Scorpix's movements and numbers. Inside were only her, Zach, and Pierre. Though they spared most of their time finding Ezekiel, they could not find him. Instead, they put the last remaining time on helping the engineers to set up traps and blockades, to atleast help them in the upcoming battle.

"Yes, I am very sure of it" Miranna replied, wearing only a green cloak around her. She also wore a green cloth, with laces intertwining each other at her collar, showing a bit of her chest. At the bottom, she wore a simple white fit pants down to her feet, as she equipped black boots for versatile movement. Beneath was chainmal armor, incase she is needed to fight on her own. A crossbow was equipped at her right arm, to where her Chronos was supposed to be.

"Strange" Pierre answered, equipped with dark grey armor, after requesting new armor since his former one cannot be trusted with its durability and sturdiness because of the last battle with Zach. A dark grey shield was strapped behind his back, with outlines shaping of a smaller shield with a vertical line from the center top to bottom. His shortsword is still unsheathed from its leather scabbard. The sword newly made from a trusted blacksmith of his. "I knew they were stupid" He thinked of possible ways, using his experience from last wars. "But they weren't this stupid for them to fall to every hole they see"

"Something is very wrong" Zach said, analyzing the panel Miranna is working on, as it released a lot of data. From the landscape, terrain, estimated deaths and losses, and the damage that will be sustained. "Usually the beasts likes to fight head on"

"Still, I can't shake off the feeling that someone is controling them from behind the scenes" Pierre added, wanting for the war to end and put most of their effort on curing Zach's daughter, and further honing both boy's strength.

"Maybe they've adapted to the terrain?" Miranna suggested, taking a break from calculating the strategies and tactics they've formed throughout the past months.

"Nah" Pierre replied, remembering how they usually fought their kind during his service. Utilizing the winds mages of the army to further strengthen their archer's arrows, leaving them with an easy war. "They always attack at the frontline due to their tough armor and all. They wouldn't change, basing on countless fights we had together with it"

"Maybe" She stood up and spoke. "I'll just go get some coffee" As she went ahead to the kitchen, brewing some coffee from the new technology the Celestial kingdom created a months ago. Making the coffee process a bit more faster than pouring hot water on crushed coffee beans, and estimate on how much sugar and milk is needed. Now, with just putting coffee beans on top of a container, and suddenly...

BAM!

Coffee from a small glass pitcher.

She grabbed a cup, poured the hot contents, and enjoyed her caffeine well. Feeling energized by a minute.

She went back to the room, and saw the two men sitting silently at the table, knowing from both experience from war that something's up. She sat at the middle, and enjoyed her coffee intake.

They were all silent, except for Miranna who was madly enjoying her coffee. Tasting the bitterness with a tad bit of sweetness from the sugar, making her enjoy the perfect combination the machine made.

"Thinking about it" Zach initiated the conversation again, wanting to avoid the already silent town around them, and enjoy the time they have left. "Evan's pretty excited to get a firsthand feel of what war's like" He looked at the panels around him again, feeling the need of reading the information. "Being in the frontlines at all"

"Yeah" Pierre replied, unsheating his shortsword and sharpening it using a whetstone he had near his room, relieving the tension and nervousness all over his body as the war came closer. "Ever since Ezekiel left, that boy had always been quiet. Abruptly leaving the inn and roaming around"

"Hope the boy finds Ezekiel before the war starts. Knowing how dangerous it must be, all alone in the center of it all" Zach answered, scanning the place one last time, before standing up and going ahead to the exit. He raised his hand in bade of goodbye. "I'll see you soon on the battlefield" He gently closed the door, leaving Miranna and Pierre all alone in the room.

She looked up at the ceiling, sipping her hot coffee, while remembering the good memories of the past.

"Reminiscing the past I see" Pierre said, looking at her and remembering the girl who was always be her side for how longs he know. Weird on how both of them still didn't got married or had a relationship before, so absorbed to their jobs of taking care the prince. Forgetting their lives all the same.

"Yeah, recollecting on how you always have a nosebleed from seeing a bit of skin" She placed the coffe down the table, and started teasing him by sticking her tongue out. "VIRGIN!"

"How you...." Pierre tried to chase her down. But, due to his armor, he was comparatively slower than her since she was only wearing light gear, making her agile on dodging him.

When the coffee was about to fell, Miranna miraculously save it from the contents spreading all over the floor. Still, Pierre never gave up and tried to grab her at her most vulnerable moment. Yet, she easily dodged him, and went to the couch on the left side. Celebrating her victory while Pierre was covered in sweat, forgetting the task at hand even for a bit.

"I see the virgin is still as dense and slow as ever" Miranna mocking said, drinking the last bits of the coffee on her cup.

"If only you knew the reason...." He muttered to himself, which Miranna didn't heard and made her come closer to him. Seeing the opportunity, he grabbed her to the feet and she stumbled down beside him, as the both laugh at their childishness. Tears of joy at the corner of their eyes, as they enjoy the bit of time they have left, before they return to their normal, mature selves.

"When was the last time we ever relax like this" Miranna asked, lying down beside him and looked at the wooden ceiling in front of her. The cold floor feeling up their backs, the joy of relieving the burden of the world, even for a bit, can they enjoy something like this.

"Maybe thirty years ago, the time when we would spar to see which class is stronger" Pierre replied, lying down beside her as his heartbeat went up. "The tank or the...."

"Scout" She finished. "In the end, we never knew because of Avilius nagging us with his long speeches about honor and pride and stuff...."

"Yeah" He smiled, relishing the last couple of minutes they have left.

They remained lying on the floor, silently admiring the ceiling, the place where they both lived, waiting for their prince to come whenever they were needed.

Just as they were about to remain there, Miranna suddenly had a feeling.

A bad feeling about it all.

She went ahead and stood up, hurrying back to the table to see what was happening at the horde. Luckily enough, they were still there, closing in on the one thousand adventurers that were on stand by, waiting for their loot.

Just as she was about to change the scene, she suddenly saw a big hole forming up below the adventurer camps, as Scorpix that were supposed to be stuck on the holes created a new pathway down on the ground.They used their own tactics against them, setting up a pin from both fronts.

She calculated the coming Scorpix from the holes. The panel rose the numbers quickly, what only spanned a thousand was added up to a hundred.

Five hundred....

A Thousand....

The numbers just kept adding up, till it came to a five thousand count. Two thousand on the front lines, and three thousand from the back. Seeing the newfound strategy of the monsters, they intent to annihilate the back liners.

Mages....

Archers....

Support....

All of them will be dead in a blink of an eye, if the main army failed to adapt to the situation.

Worried from Miranna's reaction, Pierre came up to see what was happening from the field. He stood up and walk towards her to see what was happening.

"Hey, what's going on....F***" He cursed, as he saw the massacre going on and immediately went ahead towards the exit, running as fast as he could to try and save as much people his two arms can carry.

Meanwhile, Miranna lost the strength on her legs. Seeing the people either getting slammed by the huge tails, injected with poison through the needle and making them explode or turning them insane, or picked up using the tail, and their heads or bodies devoured by the Scorpix mouths. Blood and organs dripping out of their devoured body parts, as the people who were lucky enough to be far away from the holes, saw the massacre in front of them and either run to the forests or were too stunned to fight back and run away.

The ones who were waiting at the front lines had no idea about what's happening behind, as while the Scorpix decimated behind them, they fought the suddenly rising numbers of the monsters at front.

>:T

"STAND UP AND FIGHT!" Evan shouted to a girl holding a staff, seeing her best friend devoured in front her eyes as she pushed her away, sacrificing her own life. When Evan saw it while passing by, he immediately shot the arrow through the Scorpix head, penetrating its hard armor, and ran towards the traumatized girl in front of him.

"FIGHT!" He shouted again, wanting her to make it out alive as he ignored the others scream for help.

"NO!" The girl replied, pushing him away and waving her head in trauma. She never wanted to fight and faced the ground in terror. Muttering "Mama" and "Papa" all over again. The only thing seen in her was her red hair and red clothes, making her stand out before the ambush began.

Seeing there was no hope, Evan ran ahead and helped whoever that needed his help. He shot arrows to people almost getting killed, and tried to get them to help him. The fatigue slowly getting up to him from shooting and running too much.

In the end, he only got ten people on his side out of fifty.

He then split them up in to two, and spread again to help people who were in need. He has already killed thirty Scorpix that time, yet he felt their numbers weren't going down. Instead, at every one he killed, another takes it place.

He ran with another guy, helping out other people. Mostly he sees corpses getting devoured with him unable to help to save his energy to save others. Sometimes he sees someone that were newly devoured, as he shoots the Scorpix at the head, and tried to save the person, always, he was always too late.

While they were running, the other guy he was with has been snatched away from him by one Scorpix, and brought along to his group for him to get devoured.

Evan saw his new companion die in front of his eyes, realizing it too late.

He shot five arrows continuously, making the Scorpix immediately fall to the ground. He ran towards his fallen teammate, seeing his body eaten away in five places. He gave a short prayer, and ran ahead to help the others. Only by having a cold heart now, did he momentarily forget his emotions for the sake of rationality. Narrowing down his eyes. Turning his heart to stone. For the sake of other people who might need his help.

He went and realize that he is heading straight to the edge, and stopped in his tracks, having a good view of the battlefield happening right now.

The high ranked adventurers held their ground along with their parties, killing a lot of Scorpix from their paths. Yet one by one, they started to tire and make mistakes, until one of them made a mistake and was instantly surrounded. If it wasn't for the teammates around him, he would've already died. Before he got devoured, an archer shot a lot of arrows, which led to him being saved. They continued on to their fight, hoping for the best loot they could ever get.

However, not many were lucky. As the lucky ones got into the circle of strong adventurers, offering their strength to fend them off. Some were getting eaten alive, their intestines dripping out of their body as the Scorpix pulled them.

He saw how they were outnumbered from ten to one.

He saw how useless it is to fight.

But, remembering the past.

He fought on.

For the sake of the people who were trusting on them.

To repay back the life he was given by those who were sacrificed two years ago.

For his big sis.

For Alice.

He never gave up, used them as strength, and fend off the Scorpix till he can. Till his body can last.