Jennifer listened to the conversation happening back at the Village from Sheeva's tablet, but she couldn't interject as the people the system picked up suddenly came into their perimeter and slowed to a walk. Gathering everyone up, she got as many people as she could into position before walking up and drawing her sword and pistol.
"No one is to fire unless ordered. Let's see what they want first." Jennifer ordered before looking into the forest. In the distance, she could see the familiar jet-black armor of those from Stone Keep. The system counted over 50 soldiers, most of them being Dru'Kel while a few Stone-Folk brought up the rear.
It took mere moments for their leader to walk up alone to meet Jennifer, carrying a greatsword on his back that matched the color of his armor. Jennifer recognized the man immediately, though she had only seen him once. "Chief Claw, what a pleasant surprise."
"Oh? Is that Jennifer's voice I hear? What a pleasant surprise." A scratched voice chuckled from under the helm before it was slowly taken off. Underneath was revealed a red scaled head with small horns jutting out the back of his head. There was no hair on the man's head, just a short, lizard like maw that curled into a smirk to show is sharp teeth. "That's some fancy armor you have there, did you get an eccentric Blacksmith or something?"
"I see you haven't changed. What brings you out of your hole, Fire Claw?" She asked as she sheathed her sword and pistol, taking off her own helmet to let her hair fall and glare at the man.
"Easy now, we came to help the survivors after the flood of Dark Beasts suddenly attacked us. Seeing the force that attacked our walls, we assumed you people were attacked as well."
"For someone who was attacked, you look rather relaxed." Jennifer snapped as she gripped the hilt of her sword.
"Come now dear, your words sting. We were able to hold them off with no casualties thanks to our walls. You know how well versed in combat we all are." The man chuckled as he rubbed his scaled chin and eyed Jennifer's pistol. "What kind of artifact is that you have there? I've never seen the like before."
"Enough Snake, what is it you want with us?"
"Oh come now, we are old friends. We've simply come to help the poor survivors by bringing them to our Keep. There they will be fed and treated." The man smirked before looking at the refugees. It was then that he realized that the reports of the heavily wounded were wrong. He saw no one in bandages, save for those that had lost their limbs. This made the man frown before looking at the others with similar armor to Jennifer. "What's this? No one bleeding out after such horror befell them? You must have a master alchemist at your village to be able to treat them so well."
"You Snake, so you had spies planted in our villages. Was the surge of Beasts your doing?" Jennifer shouted as she forced her helmet on and drew her weapons. This made the rest holding their weapons clutch them and steady themselves.
"Oh? I'm hurt Red Berserker, to think you would come up with such lies and make us look like the villains to make yourselves look better. Who knows, it could've been you people that caused it to bolster your numbers." As the man spoke, his own soldiers drew their weapons and got into position. They were clearly trained much better than they were, causing a small drop in moral from the defenders.
"Save it Snake, you know well we already despise you lot for what happened 30 years ago." Jennifer snarled as she took up position. "Leave now, or you'll be slaughtered like the Beasts you forced to attack us."
The man roared in laughter at her threat, slowly putting his helm on and turning around to walk back to the formation. "Well, we weren't going to allow you worms to come together anyway."
After the man spoke, his force roared out and suddenly rushed towards Jennifer. Seeing this, she raised her pistol and shouted back at the others. "LET THEM HAVE IT!"
These worms, how dare they think to form together and try to resist us.
The man clicked his tongue at the thought, letting his men rush past him. As he shook his head, he suddenly heard cries of pain from his men, one of them falling onto his back next to him with some smoke quickly leaving his face mask. Looking down to observe the man, he quickly turned around to watch the battle.
Several of his men already laid dead from the barrage of Mana Bolts and arrows released from the refugees. It didn't take long for them to realize how dangerous these strange weapons were before they suddenly bunched up into groups and charged with their shields held up. The three that met Jennifer in close range were met with her blade, which glowed a threatening green as it was brought down on the first man's shield, cleaving through and cutting the man down his chest to drop him to his knees. The other two tried to take her from either side, only for one to be met with a bolt to his helm and the other barely blocking her sword with his. The only reason he was able to was because of the dull blue hue forming around his blade, showing he had little mastery in Mana Blade. This wasn't enough to stop Jennifer from swinging her pistol around to the man's chest and blasting him a few times in the side, making the man cry out and fall to the ground.
"Men, raise your defense, slaughter these swine and take everything they have. No survivors." The man roared as he lifted his arms. Due to the noises of the battle, only the back half of his formation heard him.
The five out of his range were helplessly dropped before they could reach the caravan, crumbling awkwardly as they died almost immediately. The rest of the soldiers then took a few cautious steps back before circulating their Mana to boost their armor and weapons. As they did, the Mana Bolts instead left smoldering marks on their armor and small dents on their shields while the arrows helplessly bounced off.
[ALERT: 42 hostile remaining.
WARNING: Hostiles are able to defend against the rifles. Users are suggested to use explosive shots or piercing rounds. Survivability dropping significantly.]
The system warned the eight Armored Personnel, making them click their tongues and charge up their weapons. The first round of shots after hit three formations infront of them, causing one to scatter from the force while the others were simply scattered. The next round that followed pierced several through their armor, though it wasn't enough to go through to their comrads behind them.
They all ignored the warnings of Mana levels dropping, simply keeping the pressure up helplessly as the soldiers slowly marched towards them.
"Jennifer, only 11 of them have fallen. What do we do?"
"God's Damned them, their armor is to strong."
"I'm almost out of Mana."
"Everyone, switch to melee. One of you take the others and meet the other group at the meet-up point. We will hold them off here." Jennifer roared the order as she slipped her pistol onto her hip. The others followed in suit, bringing their weapons up and rushing to Jennifer's side. Behind them, Vela was busy calling out to the refugees and ushering them to run away.
"Don't let them escape." Chief Claw roared as he realized they were no longer shooting and trying to escape, causing his men to drop their formations and rush at the seven that stood in their way.
The battle that followed was like something out of a midevil movie. Blades clashed with blades, shields barely defending against sudden attacks, bodies crashing into eachother before they would bring their blade up to try and deal a lethal blow.
The small battle was barely contained, though Vela was still swept in as a small force broke off to charge at her. The refugees shouted at eachother to keep moving into the forest, though a few got caught up in the fight and were forced to defend themselves. Jennifer was caught alone and surrounded, taking a blow to her thigh before returning the favor with a swing down the man's chest.
To her right, Messah shot a man in the shin, causing him to fall to his knee so she could roll over the man's back. Bringing her dagger up, she used the momentum to slice along the man's back as she landed before firing her pistol multiple times at another man charging at her. She barely managed to cause him to fall before another man brought his sword down to cut her arm and make her drop her pistol with a shout. Hearing this, her sister kicked her opponent and and shoulder checked the man before he could swing on her sister again. She'd long since changed her small rifle into an axe, using it to bring down on the man's head as he fell.
To Jennifer's left, John had barely managed to block two swords with his shield. Giving a shout, he pushed them back before bringing his sword down on one man to make him crumble to the dirt below. The other soldier stumbled back, but was caught by his comrad to allow another swing at John's head, who barely managed to duck underneath and swing his own sword to cut the man's leg off in a spray of blood. He was then caught by a spear to the shoulder, forcing him to stumble back and grip the hilt of the spear with his shield arm.
Behind John, a Beast-Kin tried her best to fend off the attackers, managing to kill two with her dual blades before she was sent flying from a mace to her side, crashing into another enemy soldier and forcing the two to tumble to the ground. Other soldiers swiftly jumped in and stabbed the woman in the chest with their sword, causing her to cry out. A Lizard-Kin saw what was happening and let out a roar, jumping at the two and swinging his battle axe to cleave the two away from the Beast-Kin, though he was to late to save her as the system told the small group she had perished.
"We can't hold them off, there's to many."
"Xe'Gel is dead. What do we do?"
"There's a formation rushing the refugees."
"Everyone, fall back. Defend the refugees as best you-" Jennifer was cut off by a greatsword coming down on her, forcing her to jump back and bring her sword up. She didn't manage to react in time, the tip of the sword managing to cleave her down her chest with a shallow cut as her blade failed to defend her. Finding her feet, she fell to her knee with her sword piercing the dirt to hold her up and letting out a hiss of pain.
"Jennifer!"
"Go, I'll hold this one here, you guys defend the refugees." Jennifer ordered before cutting the line and looking up.
She met the eyes of the Stone Keep's Chief, who smirked down at her as he rested his greatsword on his shoulder. "Of dear, seems that sword and armor is pretty great. I tried to give you a quick death as a sign of mercy."
"Hah, what would you know of mercy you coward. You slaughter everyone who you deem a threat and take with no end." Jennifer panted quickly, her hand coming up to hold the wound on her chest.
"You worms are only here to bolster my forces. You should be honored to serve our Dragon Lord."
"We will not be your slaves to keep Snake, we would sooner die."
"If that is your wish, I would be happy to oblige. Of course, that would have to be after your body is worthless to us." The Dru'Kel snarled before nodding to the soldiers that surrounded Jennifer. As two walked up to grab her, the Va'Rish suddenly spun around and cleaved the two across their chests, causing them to stumble back and take up their weapons again.
"If you want me, you'll have to kill me. I'll be sure to take your head with me to the Hell's, Fire Claw." Jennifer panted as she pulled a syringe from her belt, jamming it into her neck and forcing the fluid into her system. She could feel her flesh being stitched together shortly after, taking up position again and tossing the empty container away. "Come on, let's see if your Dragon Lord really cares about you."
Her taunt caused the soldiers around her to grit their teeth and bring their shields up. As Jennifer looked around and panted, she could only think of her husband and those back at the Village. "God's, I hope they're alright."