"Hey kid, are you okay?!" A man's voice boomed near Shu He's ears.
His eyes shot open, and he jumped up off the floor where he had laid, his body still aching, he looked around at his surroundings like a startled cat.
The man that was near him was approaching at a running speed, but stopped when he saw Shu He get up, he clearly didn't want to leave his post for too long.
The tiger he fought was a few meters away from him, dead and bleeding half hanging from the roof.
'I was only out for a second or two' he concluded, sighing with relief.
"I'm fine!" He said, causing the man to nod at him then return to the fight, defending the fence.
Shu He began to use his breathing techniques to calm himself before returning his gaze towards the outside, packs of beasts were still running around and clawing, gnawing away at the large wooden fence.
'There's still so many…' He gritted his teeth and retrieved his bow from the ground, picking up some arrows from the crate near him, there weren't too many left and he had let some fall earlier, he needed someone to bring him more soon, if they still had any to spare.
He drew the bow and pinpointed a target a few tens of meters away, among the mass of gyrating bodies was a beast with sharp claws and teeth, its fur was patchy but the pattern it bore was black and brown stripes, a Black Mountain Tiger, the same type that had just sprung an attack on Shu He.
He let loose the arrow, it swam through the night towards the tiger like a silent assassin, drilling itself through the side of its skull, causing it to drop dead and join the backdrop of ever-growing corpses surrounding the upper residential district.
"Stupid idiot…" He whispered.
He was angry at himself for what had happened before, when he first learned about the beast tide the scale and severity of the situation never really dawned on him, at most he felt it was just an obstacle that could be overcome with a bit of work.
But reality is different from fiction.
When the battle first started, the mere noises and sights struck him far more deeply than he could have ever imagined, the sight of someone being ripped to shreds before his eyes tore into him.
Back in his previous life, he had spent a lot of time in the hospital, he had experienced plenty of pain from his medical issues, he had seen others suffering from illnesses and dying before his eyes as he laid still in his bed, people in the same ward.
That's why when he witnessed the harsh reality of this villages living conditions, that starvation and illness' going untreated and death was quite common, he wasn't too phased by them.
And when it came to 'war' like this, he thought it would be the same, he had seen plenty of violence from recordings of real-life events and disasters, he thought he had been desensitised enough that he would at least be fine.
But he was so very wrong.
The real thing was an entirely different beast.
It was an all-out assault on your senses and mental state, a deep blood-stained despair that dripped through to your mind no matter who you were, slowly poisoning your mental state, the shock of everything had caused Shu He to slip up and lose control of his emotions, causing him to in turn lose control over his 'Senses'.
If it wasn't for his father's call, he would likely have died, pounced on by that tiger afterwards.
In fact, he only survived that by luck as well, he managed to sink into a state he never had before, he managed to 'connect' with it, reading its intentions like it was speaking to him.
'That's good and all, but…' He nocked another arrow and shot it off.
He couldn't forgive himself for making such a mistake, this was his second life, and he didn't want to waste it, so he can't make the same mistake ever again.
That was what he swore to himself.
'Besides that, when are we going to do 'it'' He looked back at the smaller box near him, it was the box containing the vials of improvised explosives he had made before, he hadn't managed to make a significant amount, distributing just under 100 around the encampment, telling people how to use them, and to be incredibly careful when handling the boxes.
The main problem was that they couldn't use them right now, if they did they'd run risk of ruining a plan that had been set up.
After that plan had been set off however, it'd be free reign.
So now, the only thing to do was continue defending until that moment.
Right now, Shu He estimated that around 60% of the 500 beasts that were said to be coming had been witnessed, the moment all of them were here is when the moment would come.
…
Time went on as the attacks scale steadily increased, as did the casualties on both sides, the outer side of the encampment was a field of viscera and blood, corpses of beasts were littered all over along with 'other' corpse pieces here and there mixed between.
The barricades had long been covered in pieces of beasts, the spikes entirely redundant by this point as they were home to hundreds of skewered bodies around the encampment, the biggest problem was that the tiger's were no longer the only threat when it came to climbing that barricade.
The bodies had piled up so much that they could be used as a makeshift stairway, the larger beasts were steadily making their way up becoming an even bigger threat, the bears that were already adept at climbing were the first ones to begin making their way over.
Luckily, Shu He's explosives were able to be used here, and many began to make use of them whenever one of the larger beasts came over.
*BOOOOOM* an explosion echoed as a white light shone throughout the village.
The carcass of a large animal missing its upper torso slid to the side and splatted its entrails on to the wood roofing, unfortunately part of the roof itself and the fence were caught in the explosion damaging them.
The man that had thrown the vial sighed in relief yet sweat dripped from his brow nonstop as he struggled to yell.
"We can't hold this much longer! When are we setting it off?!" He questioned.
He was right, it wasn't just the beasts using their allies as a fleshy stairwell, the fence had long since began to give away, many parts had holes torn in it where the small beasts began to squeeze their way through, in other areas the blood dripping from the beasts corpses had softened the wood allowing the claws and fangs to tear through it faster.
It was likely that within the hour, multiple breaches would have formed, meaning they'd inevitably all die.
After a minute, a large bell sounded out as if responding to the man's question.
Three rings echoed in the ears of everyone defending, they all quietened down.
"RETREAT TO THE SECOND DEFENSE LINE, OTHERS TAKE COVER" It was like receiving water in a desert to the many that had been defending for the few hours already, like a well-oiled machine everyone moved fast, the miscellaneous members went back first, followed by the supporters and the people defending the upper areas, followed by the defenders.
The moment the pressure left the beasts, they began ravenously devouring the fence with no-one to defend it, it would barely last 5 to 10 minutes now.
The population collapsed to an area around a large hall, where all the others that couldn't help had taken shelter, surrounding it was a square that had been fortified with basic barricades, not at the level of the outer area, but simple enough to be of use.
The people that were defending the upper fence had moved to a few makeshift outposts atop buildings surrounding the hall.
Everyone was tense, they knew this moment was the deciding factor of their survival.
Another ring of the large bell sounded, Shu Li who was now atop the hall standing next to the large bell watched the distance nervously.
In the distance, in six different points were six men who had decided to take a heavy role on to their shoulders, they were the only ones not taking shelter currently, because they had to do something of utmost importance.
They had to light the fuse to the dynamite!
Yes, the dynamite was long since retrieved from the old mining shack a few days before, while a lot of it had become unusable there was just enough to make a last-ditch defensive circle with them, they had been buried in boxes circling the whole upper district, using everything they had with multiple fuses between them for safety, no matter what they had to explode.
As soon as they heard the fourth ring, they used their lit torches and placed them on the fuses hidden inside some houses near the outer wall, holes dug leading underground, and then ran as fast as their lives could let them!
They never looked back, as soon as they saw the fuses spark they knew their job was done.
Soon, silence set in on the second defence line, no one spoke, all that could be heard would the manic growling and howling in the distance.
A minute passed since the bell, with nothing.
"… There they are! They're here!" Someone pointed towards the group of men running as fast as their legs could carry them with utter terror written on their faces.
And then-
'DOKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN'
In the distance, a massive explosion set off, but that wasn't the only one.
''DOKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN''
'''DOKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN'''
''DOKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN''
A chain reaction had been set off, each piece of dynamite shocking the ones near them, setting them off as well.
Very quickly, a bright light of destruction surrounded the village in a circle, the sound booming throughout the entire village and nearby area, the wind force tearing through the fields and buildings, collapsing the weaker ones.
Everyone took cover behind whatever they could and covered their ears, some parents forsaking their own hearing to cover their child's.
The whole chain reaction took around a minute, with continuous explosions setting off, however soon enough they settled down.
Dust filled the air of the village, making it even harder to see through the night than before, the only saving grace is that it wasn't too long before the morning sun would begin to rise.
In the distance, flickering flames could be seen licking the wood of the outer houses and the former barricade in a circle around them providing light.
Their encircling fence had been decimated, but hopefully so had most of the beasts.
"Are… are they all dead?" Someone asked.
"Don't get careless, I doubt we got all of them" An older, more experienced man answered.
"That's right, be careful they're coming" Shu Li's voice answered from above as he stared out in to the burning wreckage.
"How many?!"
"Far less, i can't see too much but there's movement, get ready; it's not over" Shu Li spoke as he looked around.
He was slightly worried, not because of the beasts but because of something else.
Shu He was nowhere to be found.