Chapter 87: Sortie
Except to eat, Zayn hadn’t left his room for the rest of the day. In fact, he didn’t even step outside until only an hour remained before the barrier was destined to fall.
***
“Task”
[Tasks]
[Defend the Town of Adsagsona From the Incoming Monster Invasion] – (Time until attack: 00:05:34 hours)
[Hunt Disasters] – {Failure: Human Extinction} — (Disasters identified – Cynthia Vespertine, Shin Hae-ryung, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???) – (Disasters Slain: 1/16)
[???]
The thirty-five-person unit had congregated along the wall nearest to the graveyard. While Jarlock used his staff to carve a hole through it so they could exit, Zayn stood before the group.
Despite being considered ‘elite,’ it was clear that most of them were racked with nerves, especially since they had to break through a horde of monsters blocking their path to the forest where the graveyard lay. Worse, the monsters outnumbered them nearly three to one.
And that wasn’t all…
Their coordination went beyond simply not attacking one another while focusing on the town. The big, bulky ones stood in the front, while those that could attack from long range remained in the back. Even their forces around the town appeared evenly distributed.
This wasn’t a battle they could win just by throwing themselves at the enemy. They needed at least some level of strategy.
Which, for some reason, had been left to Zayn.
Someone who’d had near-zero input on strategy during the Goblin King Trial.
‘Why does Lucas trust me so much…?’
That was an unanswerable question at the moment.
Finally, Jarlock finish carving out a hole in the wall wide enough for them to fit through. For the first time, Zayn could see the monsters from ground level…
‘I think I see about seventy of them in our way.’
The main dilemma was deciding how much strength they should commit to breaking past that line and entering the forest, with the graveyard sitting at the top of a barrow.
Those who used Relics or bows had “ammo” of sorts. People with Relics like Jarlock were valuable, but they burned through Aether quickly. Likewise, archers could only carry so many arrows.
‘Alright…’
“File out.”
At the curt order, the group filtered through the hole. Once everyone was outside, Jarlock sealed it back up.
In the distance, several monsters were already peeling away from the main group to join the force waiting for them.
‘Shit, seriously…? Are they communicating?’
Zayn coughed, drawing the anxious crowd’s attention.
“When the barrier drops, let them come to us. Those with shields, line up and make a wall to halt their advance. Everyone else stays behind them. Those with swords should take out anything that breaches the wall or tries to encircle us. Archers, conserve as many arrows as possible while taking out the enemy archers or other important targets. Those with long-ranged Relics, use their abilities at your discretion, but save as much Aether as possible, as we don’t know what may happen in the graveyard. Once we gain the upper hand, we begin steadily advancing toward the treeline. From there, we will make our way toward the graveyard.”
Zayn took a deep breath…
“If we are overwhelmed and unable to break through by regular means, then we’ll have to scramble for the treeline… Once there, we will use the dense terrain to our advantage and try to take them out before continuing to the graveyard… I admit, it’s not the best plan to expose ourselves so horribly, but reaching that graveyard is likely the key to conquering this Trial. We cannot waste time slowly whittling down our enemy while hiding at the wall.”
Zayn pointed toward the handful of monsters racing over to join the group blocking their path.
“As you can see, their forces will continue to grow the longer the battle drags on. I know not how, but they may have some kind of communication.”
With that, the group began to talk amongst themselves and steel their resolve for battle. While they did, Zayn focused on their soon-to-be enemies — the hodgepodge of monsters.
They varied wildly in species and size. About a third of the forces in front of them consisted of red wolves that seemed to ooze blood with every movement. At the very front of the formation stood three beings that resembled the Goblin King he had fought in the first trial.
‘But I can tell… from my memories. These guys are weak.’
They might possess the king’s size, but none of his strength, meaning they were just oversized meat shields.
Behind them stood the goblins, which made up another third of the force. Most were equipped with swords, but some had bows, and two appeared to be Relic users. The rest consisted of larger variants of goblins, a few skeletons, and several overgrown cattle and other animals that seemed to have mutated in one form or another enough to be classified as monsters.
‘Fucking goblins…’
He especially hated the Goblin King lookalike. A reminder of the bastard who just couldn’t complete Zayn’s one simple request.
The final minute began to count down. As it did, Zayn turned toward the monsters, putting his back to the others. Slowly, a golden card materialized in his hand.
[Twist of Fate]…
Flooding the card with Aether, Zayn watched with bated breath as it shimmered…
Intricate black lines spread across the empty face. Way more than any number could contain. They swirled around before finally settling…
‘No…’
The card depicted a man in a weird pose with one leg up and an oversized hat on his head, dressed in a jester’s outfit with a ‘J’ in the corner.
A black joker.
Meaning, someone else was going to die and he could do nothing about it.
The joker vanished from the card’s face, yet the card remained pure gold. It hadn’t accrued any debt.
Whatever was going to happen wasn’t going to change…
‘Shit!’
Frantically, Zayn tried to use the card again, only to receive the same result.
His face paled.
‘Who…’
Who was going to die?
Jade? Lucas? Amaya? Maks? Ruby?
‘Hae-ryung…?’
The worst part was… Zayn was on a mission away from all of them. He couldn’t retreat now to go save them. Well… he could, but that would mean abandoning his post.
From the few memories he had, he felt doing so would cause an even greater disaster.
And, even if he did abandon his post, the joker card meant it was irreversible. It was going to happen.
Zayn dismissed [Twist of Fate] and let his arms fall limply to his side.
‘Fuck.’
He was the strongest of them…
‘The strongest of all of us Summoned in Adsagsona…’
Yet he felt so damn pathetic and weak.
‘I should have used it sooner!’
But he’d waited so long. He’d waited for everything to get in position. How did he not learn from when he drew the nine of spades? How did he not realize?
All that chaos that happened…
It was the butterfly effect.
One thing led to another for whatever outcome was erased to be erased. It might have been a short one in the last happening, but it was one nonetheless.
Zayn had foolishly left fate no time to intervene. The branch of death had already been chosen.
‘Once again… it’s my fault.’
Innocents were going to die due to his carelessness and oversight.
Then, all at once, a litany of howls, snarls, and cries erupted through the air.
The barrier had fallen.
The sortie immediately snapped into position, following his orders to a tee.
All except Zayn.
He stood still, his head tilted up at the sky.
‘…’
His mind went blank for a few moments.
He only listened as someone atop the walls screamed “Fire!” and arrows sailed overhead into the mini monster horde.
‘…’
Finally, he brought his head down. He begrudgingly stepped into line.
Swallowing his dismay, he forced orders out of his throat:
“Don’t charge forward unnecessarily. One loss for us is incomparable to one loss for them. We can’t afford mistakes.”
Both sides maintained their formations as the distance steadily narrowed. Then, once the monsters came within roughly twenty meters of Zayn’s group, all the wolves broke from their formation and fanned outward.
‘As I thought… they are coordinated.’
“They will try and break our lines. Stick with your squadron.”
Each squadron was a group of five who synergized well together.
Zayn’s was him, Jarlock, Paul, then two others from Zephyrus named Nathan and Jordan.
People atop the walls continued firing. They took out a few more, but it wasn’t long before it became too dangerous for the archers to fire without accidentally striking an ally.
This was where the fight truly began.