Chapter 73: The First Wave
[000:00:11]
Each of the last 10 seconds were accompanied by an unnatural beep that echoed across Ghost Reef. Every time the number counted down an alternate tone rang out. Coop watched as the timer hit zero and a loud buzzing announced the start of the event. The silence that followed was thick with everyone’s anticipation.
Coop was waiting on the southern wall of the fort, watching for a frontal assault along with the majority of the residents. People had spread out along the walls, but the greatest concentration was near the front gate, where Coop had gone. The phantoms were spread more evenly, as they were split into divisions with further subgroups that were manning the cannons all the way around the fort, depending on their compatibility.
The southern wall was the only portion of the fortress that was connected to dry ground, though it still had the moat separating it from the rest of the island. The rest of the fortress was surrounded by the ocean. Historically, the fort had faced sieges by sea, but Coop was, perhaps overly optimistically, hoping they wouldn’t need to withstand a naval blockade. He trusted Kayla and her pirate crews, but they weren’t particularly numerous nor were they at full strength yet.
After a few more seconds of silence, someone shouted a warning to look at the beach. The shallow waters along the west beach started to churn, frothing white until mechanical leg joints started breaching the surface. Coop watched the beach as Ancient Defenders charged out of the ocean and rushed onto the dunes on the other side of the island.
At first he was relieved, Ancient Defenders weren’t that scary, but his relief faded when the monsters just kept barreling out of the surf. This wasn’t a simple raid. Countless monsters surged out of the ocean. The Defenders climbed over each other and moved with an aggression that exceeded even the elites that had attacked the fort before.
Monsters were sprinting out of the water without any shouts or roars, just the stomping of their pointed legs piercing into the packed sand, the grinding of metal joints, and clanging of the collisions between individuals. The industrial metallic sounds didn’t belong on the tropical island, but they drowned out the breeze and waves completely.
A shrill screech followed by five clear chirps drew Coop’s attention to the scrubland, where thousands more Ancient Defenders were swarming across the flat land, having arrived from the other more distant beach. The monsters were climbing out of the water from the beaches on both sides of the lighthouse. The mangrove forest’s thick vegetation and deep muck was too much of a barrier for them to breach at least, and they ignored the rocky corner where the lighthouse was perched.
The tidal waves of monsters would converge in front of the main entrance of the fortress, just like the residents hoped, but even the ideal situation was demoralizing. The speed that they trampled over each other and the island meant that they had maybe ten minutes before the walls would be under attack. Ancient Defenders weren’t particularly fast as they were built for defense as the name implied.
Messengers ran along the walls, spreading the news to those who weren’t witnessing the wave of monsters wash over the island. Bells were ringing from both of the southern corners of the fort and the Tempest fleet responded with their own chiming signals. Coop wasn’t privy to the codes that had already developed, but he was impressed by their ability to communicate in real time.
The tide of monsters was temporarily halted on the edge of the dunes and the scrubland, in one narrow section, as multiple intersecting blades of wind cleaved through the mass, carving a gap in the frontline. Several more wind blades destroyed more monsters as they attempted to fill the space. A bubble formed where the monsters were absent. It was quickly surrounded, but remained empty with the help of repeated wind blades. From the distance, it looked like a sandy stone amid a flowing river of metal legs.
The action was enough for Coop to get moving. He rolled his shoulders, laughing to release his own tension, and summoned his ethereal armor, spear, and shield.