Frostbound

Foxes. It just had to be foxes.

The wave this morning happened the same as all the rest had and I found myself being serenaded in the cacophony of ungodly yips. I had never seen a fox before in real life but if these were anything to go off of, they were annoying as hell.

As the group traveled toward our walls all you could hear were the yips and yaps of over a hundred of the annoying creatures. I was already planning to kill them but I was going to try ever so harder now. It was like it was a mental attack before they reached us, there were no other explanations that explained why they had to be so loud.

It was nearly impossible to get the high-pitched screeches out of my head before the leading animals reached me. The next thirty minutes were mostly a blur of gore, viscera, and fluids better left undescribed. The foxes were not very durable, but where they lacked in fortitude they made up for in sharp teeth that easily penetrated skin.

The boss was the most difficult part, it was past the level 10 threshold and was an absolute nightmare to take down. Everyone outside of the wall was, once again, told to retreat so we didn't get to fight it up close. There were a few more volunteers this time out in front of the wall which was a nice bonus. Jonathan and my Dad joined me and a few more as well, it was nice to see people putting in the effort to get stronger.

While we were retreating through the gate, the only living beasts left of the wave were a few foxes who lagged behind the rest, along with the boss. The boss wasn't massive, nor did it have a coat of armor surrounding it that made it so difficult. It was only 50% bigger than the normal foxes of the wave and those were only the size of the average dog.

It was the speed that the boss had that made it so difficult. It dodged all of the arrows that were shot at it and laughed at the slow magic bolts aimed at it. It was a mess of changing directions weaving around other foxes for cover, and the uncanny ability to know when magic was heading toward it.

I saw a fire bolt that Rachel launched that I was sure would hit the thing while it was facing the other way trying to dodge an arrow. Not only did the boss dodge the arrow, it never even turned around to see the fire bolt before it ducked out of the way. It had a sixth sense or something and was a master of evasion.

As the boss neared, we were given the order to retreat. When the boss saw us filing through the gate it charged at full speed, trying to get through.

Half of us tried to sprint faster through the gate so we could close it, the other half turned to brace for the boss' charge, with a couple who stood there not knowing what to do.

I was a part of the group that turned around to face the charge, but before the boss could reach us a wall of ice sprang from the ground blocking us from the boss. The boss' charge was halted by the magic barrier that it suddenly found itself facing and it rammed face-first into it. The ice making up the wall cracked but held from the force of the charge.

Before I could think any further on the matter, we were shouted at to get behind the walls. After we made it through and closed the gate, the wall of ice disappeared. It held long enough for all of us to make it inside of the walls.