Chapter Twenty-Three #7
Maxi quickly saw what had made the squire curse. One of the double barriers in front of the ramparts was collapsing. The monsters roared savagely and charged at the remaining barrier like a herd of mammoths.
Maxi let out a wail of despair. The size of the monster army was much greater than what she had seen above the ramparts. What had seemed like an army of hundreds now appeared to number in the thousands. There were not only trolls and red goblins in their ranks, but ogres as well.
Garrow gritted his teeth. “How in the devil did an army of that size spring out of nowhere?”
“Now is not the time for that. They probably have search teams all over the place. We have to get out of here before they catch our scent.”
Collecting himself first, Ulyseon tried to get them back on the road, but Maxi could not pry her eyes away from the besieged city. As she remained rooted to the spot, Ulyseon attempted to reassure her.
“Even if the city were to fall, I am sure our men will be able to hold them off long enough for the coalition army to get back.”
Though Maxi knew nothing about warfare, she knew the squire was lying. How could a mere three hundred men hold off thousands of ferocious monsters? The creatures would no doubt turn Eth Lene Castle into rubble in an instant.
She watched in terror as monsters flooded out of the ravine beneath them. Then, quite suddenly, an idea dawned on her.
“If…we collapse that…would it d-deal a big enough blow to the monsters?” She pointed toward the towering rock faces that rose on both sides of the road leading up to the southern gate.
For a moment, the squires stared at her blankly. Their eyes grew wide when they realized that she was pointing to the large boulder jutting out above the rock faces.
“My lady, are you saying…you could do that?” Garrow asked, his voice trembling.
“I think I could…i-if I used magic.” Although she wanted to sound as calm as possible, her voice cracked like a croaking frog.
Both squires looked doubtful.
“Do you think you have sufficient mana, my lady?”
“I have a way. If th-there’s a chance of success…no matter how small…don’t you think it’s worth trying?”
The squires exchanged glances.
Sensing their inner conflict, Maxi desperately pleaded, “P-Please let me try it. It shouldn’t t-take longer than twenty—no, fifteen minutes. If I fail, I-I’ll follow you without another word.”
After looking back and forth between the boulder and Maxi’s face, Ulyseon bit down on his lip. He wordlessly deliberated over the matter with Garrow before bobbing his head.
“Very well. We should give it a try, my lady. But if the plan fails, we must not delay any longer.”
Maxi gave a resolute nod. The squires regarded her ruefully for a moment before the three of them climbed up the rugged mountain path once more. As she followed them, the noise of the battle gradually grew closer, and the sky turned a hazy purple as the afternoon waned.
Maxi gasped for air, certain that her lungs would burst. Pain stabbed at her thighs from gripping the saddle, and her arms shook, but she did not dare ask to stop.
Time stretched into an indeterminate blur. They were riding along in weary silence when something suddenly leaped out of the trees.
Ulyseon quickly drew his sword. “Stay back, my lady!”
Calming her agitated horse, Maxi hastily retreated behind the squires. To her horror, there were monsters to the rear as well.
Shoving Maxi behind him, Ulyseon cried out, “Garrow, they have us surrounded! Open a path now!”
As though executing a plan, the monsters advanced on them all at once. Maxi’s horse began to rear, and it took all her strength to cling to its neck and attempt to rein it in. Casting a barrier at the same time was impossible.
“My lady!” Garrow shouted. “Escape while we distract them! We’ll be right behind you!”
Terrified, Maxi glanced around. Where was she supposed to run?
While she hesitated, completely at a loss for what to do, Ulyseon and Garrow cut down the goblins and managed to secure an opening.
“Now, my lady!”
Maxi spurred her horse and shot past the goblins like an arrow. The wind whooshed through her hair as the trees passed by in a blur.
There was no time to check that she was going in the right direction. Afraid that the monsters would catch up to her if she slowed even a little, Maxi frantically flicked the reins like a whip.
Then, out of nowhere, something came flying down on top of her. Maxi tumbled from her horse and hit the ground hard. The excruciating impact racked through her whole body, knocking all the air from her lungs as she rolled through the dirt.
Choking from the dust and pain, Maxi looked up in terror. A goblin sat on her chest with a hooked weapon leveled right at her face. Maxi screamed. She fumbled on the ground for anything she could grab and flung it at the creature.
A twig caught the goblin’s eye, and it howled as it clutched its face. Maxi somehow pushed it off and scrambled away on her hands and knees.
The goblin was on her again before she could get to her feet.
It yanked her back by her hair, and she thrashed against it like a rabid beast. Then her vision turned black as it landed a brutal kick to her stomach.
Her mind spun with searing pain as she desperately tried to cling to her fading consciousness.
It would truly be the end if she were to pass out now.
The monster began dragging her along the forest floor by her hair. Struggling against it, Maxi unsheathed the dagger from her waist. She thrust the blade upward and felt it sink into flesh like half-cooked meat.
The goblin’s large, burning eyes grew even bigger as it stared at its abdomen in disbelief. Still grasping her hair, it began to shake her head violently.
Maxi yanked the dagger out and plunged it back in.
Warm blood spewed out like water from a fountain, drenching her face and arms. Over and over, she stabbed the goblin’s round belly in a frenzy as the monster shrieked with pain and rage.
It took dozens of strikes before the goblin finally slumped to the ground.
Heaving ragged breaths, Maxi shakily sat up.
Nausea washed through her as soon as she saw the monster’s chest. It now resembled a chunk of crudely chopped meat.
Turning her head, she hurled sticky bile over the base of a tree.
Her throat burned, and her whole body ached as though all of her bones had been crushed.
Based on her painful breathing, she surmised that she had broken a rib.
Clutching her side, she looked back along the path.
Where on earth am I?
Her mount had long since fled. Pressing her hand against a tree trunk for support, Maxi staggered to her feet. Strangely enough, she no longer felt afraid. Perhaps it was because her ability to cope had been stretched so far beyond its limits.
She was numbly surveying her surroundings when she heard a gruff bellow in the distance.
She stumbled in the direction of the sound.
Stepping out of the trees, she found herself on a dizzyingly steep cliff with a boulder overhang.
Maxi teetered to the edge and looked down to see thousands of monsters gathered at the barrier protecting the city gates.
The terrifying sight made her skin crawl.
She hugged herself as she took a step back.
Six gray giants with legs as thick as timbers charged from the head of the monster army. Their massive feet left craters in the ground as they stomped ahead, swinging colossal iron maces over their heads. A thunderous roar rang out, followed by a blazing fireball that hurtled toward the barrier.
Horrified, Maxi turned her gaze to the source of the attack. In the middle of the troll legion was a ghastly creature draped in black robes, riding a drake. There was no doubt that this was the necromancer behind Hebaron’s curse, as well as the horde of ghouls.
The drake’s reins were made of chains. The robed monster gave them a sharp yank, then raised its black-scaled hands. An instant later, a massive fireball formed in the air.
Even at a distance, the heat was so intense that Maxi recoiled and blocked her face with her arm.
The scarlet flame hurtled toward the barrier like an explosive, and the violent blast even reached the cliff where Maxi stood.
She threw herself to the ground and stayed flat until the fierce gust died down.
Black smoke and dust cleared to reveal the half-melted barrier.
Ogres charged like a stampede of wildebeests once more, swinging their iron hammers. The heavy blows snapped Maxi to attention. This was no time to be watching the battle from afar like a fool.
Sitting on her knees, she searched for the boundary where dirt became rock.
The boulder was more firmly embedded in the earth than she had anticipated.
After tapping it with her foot, Maxi bit her lip.
The overhang was not as precarious as it had looked from below.
Would she be able to push it off the cliff with her rudimentary magic?
There’s nothing I can do but try….
If she could create a small fissure, the rock would fall from its own weight.
Taking a few steps away from the boulder, Maxi took a deep breath and placed her hands on the ground.
She then began circulating her mana in the pattern of a defensive rune.
Her mana poured out of her pathways and dispersed left and right, forming an intricate shape.
Soon a faint tremor shook the ground. It cracked open as an earth wall shot up.
Maxi backed away to escape the thick dust that billowed up with the wall. The boulder had not budged. Brushing away the strands of hair sticking to her forehead, Maxi gnawed her lip.
Her spell had been for a corporeal barrier that used the surrounding elements. Since it forced the earth to create a solid wall, it was bound to cause a mild disruption. Even so, it appeared that the quake had not been enough to dislodge the rock at all.