After the full moon Leo didn't take long to recover, and was back training as soon as possible. It only took a week for the report they had all been waiting for to finally arrive, the humans finished working their way through the tunnels and were coming. The Chiefs were having a meeting on battle formations, and Leo and Iris were participating as well. As Karl was the head of the Warriors, he was the one forming the battle plans and formations.
{there's about five different tunnels they'll be coming from. These four here, are all only wide enough for a five man formation to pass through. This one though, is where we could expect the bulk of the attack as its wide enough to allow ten soldiers to march in line. I'll be leading the defense there, the other four tunnels will be hopefully be held with the magic muskets that you made. I'll have Leo and Iris with me, their close combat abilities will be beneficial for us.} at that moment however Leo was shaking his head and said,
{Iris is better at ranged with a bow, if we get her at an elevated area she can pick off commanding officers in order to disrupt the command.} Karl nodded in confirmation as no matter the army, moral will always go down when the superiors died. After the plans were made, they all dispersed to report to their designated areas. Leo and Karl stood side by side in front of the tunnel he was describing, and Iris was a little ways off with her bow. If it wasn't for the fact that she was targeting the most important people she would've complained about being sidelined again. They were waiting at the tunnels, as they didn't know when the enemy will attack. Leo's ears suddenly picked something up in the tunnels.
{ready!} the dwarves were suddenly standing row by row, waiting to receive the enemy. They were surrounded by the magic musket users who were waiting to pick off the first wave. Suddenly, troops of humans poured out of the tunnel, only to have lead balls rained down on them. They had applied chi to their shields in order to protect them during the charge, but it did next to nothing with the superior firepower of the magic musket. The only drawback of course was the reload time, when the next wave appeared Leo and Karl led the charge.
{KILL THEM ALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!} Karl shouted as they rushed into battle. Leo rushed forward next to him already swinging his battle axe for the first to fall to him. As they clashed for the first time Leo was deafened with the sound of metal crashing together.
Iris was in a constant state of repetition, knock, pull, loose. Knock, pull, loose. Over and over again Iris repeated the same thing. Her role was to prioritize the enemy commanders, but until she saw them she couldn't just sit and stare at the battle. As she constantly emptied her quivers the dwarves near her replaced them with fresh ones. Due to the constant flow of arrows she was even loosing five at once. She hadn't been able to keep track of how many she had killed so far, but she did know that she killed at least seven commanders already.
She could hear that deafening roar of the magic muskets at the other tunnels and knew that they were still holding position there. Suddenly a splinter group broke free of the dwarves and made their way over. Iris put down the bow and drew her daggers to engage the enemy. The dwarves who were to support her did the same and they swiftly met the group. She swung her daggers at the first one to reach them and slit his throat before he could even react. She ducked and avoided the swing of another's sword and stabbed into his armpit.
Iris once again started her dance of death as she continued her way through the group. She had dispatched the majority, and by the time they returned to the bows, the dwarves around her were filled with a newfound respect for her. Unaware of the reactions of those around her, she returned to her repetition.
Leo was caked in gore as he cleaved his way through the groups of enemies. He marveled at Karl's ability to pick a weapon once again, as with his strength he would bisect two to three opponents at once. Regardless of chi or armor, it was as good a paper before him. He just wished he knew how messy an axe was to use. Nearby Karl was smashing his way through even more enemies than him. The battle wasn't all good though, as the dwarves would cut down the enemies with their superior weapons, the humans were able to easily cut through the dwarves armor with chi fortified weapons and kill them. There was also the occasional mana user that would send a fireball or two at them before Iris managed to get to them.
As he became more and more engrossed in the battle, the beast craved to be freed. It wanted to kill and feast on the blood and flesh of its enemies. Leo worked to hold it down though in order to prevent the same thing as what happened during the battle at the village.
He focused on dispatching a group of enemies when he heard Karl give a war cry behind him. Leo spent a few moments finishing the group he was on, before turning around. When he did though it felt as time on the entire battlefield stopped. Leo didn't see who did it, but he had turned just in time to see Karl's body hit the ground as his head rolled the other way. He felt as if his heart stopped, then his vision went red.