Iris noticed a group of soldiers surrounded between the wall and a tide of goblins, and hesitated for a second before deciding to support them. Her arrows reduced the pressure on the group, but even that wasn't enough.
She watched with growing fury as one soldier after another died, and after the goblins' advantage became clear, they began to devour the fallen.
Her eyesight was extraordinary, being able to observe details that no one else would see. A blessing granted by the gods themselves, but today that blessing has become a curse.
Linos, an old friend of your father's, was a cheerful and kind man who liked to turn pieces of wood into statues and give them to the children in the village. Her own bow was a present from him for her fifteenth birthday...
Today she saw this man fighting bravely, fighting desperately and then being killed, his body dragged to pieces.
Her vision blurred, but not even that made her miss her shots. Her body trembled, her fingers bled, but still her arrows didn't miss. Shot after shot, death after death, until the end came.
She saw the rest of the cornered soldiers jumping off the wall and running away. The fury inside her exploded, she nocked the arrow and aimed at the cowardly traitors, ready to kill them. But then she remembered her father...
She changed her target and started killing the goblins who were trying to follow them. At some point, she realized that she no longer heard the sound of the lightning.
"Father..." Iris collected her quiver and as many arrows as she could carry and ran to where her father was fighting. Some of the houses were further apart, forcing her to jump across the gap between them or balance on unreliable rope bridges. In the middle of a jump, she heard a powerful explosion from outside the gates.
Iris changed direction, heading for the edge of the roof, from where she had a wide view of what was happening near the gates. She saw a determined soldier lying on the ground, with the entire left side of his body, from waist to head, terribly burnt, with parts completely blackened.
Next to him, a giant wolf was tearing to pieces off a soldier while the goblin above him was attacking another soldier with a whip.
Iris narrowed her eyes, the target was too far away, even if she could see them perfectly, her arrow would miss due to the distance and the wind.
She nocked the arrow and took aim, watching as the wind affected the smoke, the trees and even the dust. She waited patiently, even when the soldier was hit by the whip. Even when his arm began to hurt.
'If I were stronger, the distance wouldn't matter,' she thought, watching the soldier being torn apart by the whip.
'If I'd spent more time training, I wouldn't have to worry about the wind...'
She saw the wolf turn towards the other soldier, its open mouth still dripping with blood. The goblin moved his whip, preparing to attack.
'If I were-'
[Do you want to join Jon's army as an elite soldier?]
'What?' The message sent shivers through her body. For a second she thought she had received the legendary heroic mission she desperately wanted, but the gods didn't seem to find anything she did worthy of attention. She remembered the arrogant child she had met recently and was tempted to refuse, but her pride, however great, would not outweigh her common sense.
[The lord commander hasn't assigned you a position in the army, you'll be assigned to the one that best fits your current skills]
[You have been promoted to the elite unit: Shadows of Fire]
…
…
Iris struggled to retreat, being forced to climb down from the roof and circle half the village before managing to find an enemy-free path to the town square.
'Thank the gods those animals are dumb, if they had surrounded the square we wouldn't have lasted a minute...'
Iris found a high spot and continued to help the defenders. By then, the black flames had disappeared, and the soldiers were dropping like flies. From where she was, she saw old Sandro shouting something about the hero having run away, and before anyone could silence that idiot, the goblin war leader charged into the main line, killing dozens of people before his father could reach him. Everything turned into a bloody mess.
Just as they disappeared, the black flames returned and then sunlight illuminated the night and the battle came to an end.
Of the 400 soldiers who fought, less than 100 survived, most with serious injuries. Around 300 non-combatants died for one reason or another, leaving around 700... In all, Terhi lost almost half its population in a single night.
Worst of all, no one had time to rest. The dead had to be buried, the wounded treated. People needed to be fed and sheltered. The defenses had to be rebuilt, patrols and messengers had to be sent out... The work was never finished.
New refugees arrived, the cowards who fled and survived began to return... The days passed, and with them some rumors began to take hold.
A week later, news spread that the hero had regained consciousness.
—---
I regained consciousness with a feeling of déjà vu. I'm once again stuck in an uncomfortable bed, in an unfamiliar room, with my consciousness coming and going, and regardless of the state, the pain remains.
[Health: 9%]
It's unbelievable that I find myself in a worse state than the first time! The first thing I do is activate the healing skill, raising my health to 17%.
I try to move, but I can't, and to pass the time, I check my rewards.
[Mission completed]
[First task: Defend the village of Terhi.
Main objective: Prevent the goblins from conquering the village (reward: Surviving population, 752, you received 75 silver coins)
Secondary objective: Annihilate the enemy force (reward: mythical battle banner)
Bonus objective: Personally kill the shamans of Nargoth (reward: Enemies killed 03/05, you received a rare space ring)
Secret objective: Not achieved.
How the hell am I supposed to complete an objective I don't know about? I put the coins aside and check the two items, the banner is a large rectangular cloth that is completely white, which establishes an area where enemies are weakened and allies strengthened... it would have been useful last night. The space ring is self-explanatory, a small, discreet silver ring that contains a separate space of 9 cubic meters where I can store anything that isn't alive... I store the banner and equip the ring.
Or rather, I try to equip the ring, since for some inexplicable reason, my hands are trapped. I try to move, but end up stifling a cry of pain as I open some wounds...
An unknown woman enters the room and looks at me coldly, then opens the window, letting in the blinding sunlight. I take advantage of the moment when her back is turned to hide the ring in my hand.
"What happened?" I ignore the pain for a second and ask confusedly. The last thing I remember is being hit by the explosion.
"I'm not allowed to talk to you. The council will be informed, and you will have your answers."
'What? What disgrace has happened here?
Hours pass before a group of soldiers appears and carry me away. One of them looks familiar, and I rack my brains trying to remember his name.
"Di... Diogo?"
"Diego, sir," the man replied, looking embarrassed.
"What happened? Where's my cousin?"
No one answers.
The smell of smoke and charcoal is intense, and I soon discover why. A considerable part of the village has been destroyed by fire.
"Is your family all right?"
"My eldest son didn't make it..."
"I'm sorry."
I'm taken to the north gate, where some makeshift tents have been erected. A large tent with open sides has been placed in the middle of them, a rectangular table has been positioned in the middle, on one side there are seven occupied chairs and on the other, only one.
My face contorts in pain as I am placed in the chair. My hands and feet are still tied.
I recognize five of the people sitting in front of me. Robert and Brenda are sitting on the left, with an unknown gentleman occupying the middle seat, Sandro is on the right and another stranger is on the left. Igor and Little Tom are on the far right.
The man in the center picks up a small wooden hammer and looks at me. I have a brief premonition that I'm not going to like what he says next.
Hundreds of people surrounded the tent, eagerly awaiting the man's words.
The man in question looks about 30, with long wheat-colored hair, golden brown eyes and an unshaven beard. He looks me up and down, getting more and more disgruntled by the second.
"Good people of Terhi, I am Baron Maxuel Einhard, close advisor to the late Count Einhard and guardian of his children and heirs. As the highest ranking individual in this place, I take it upon myself to apply the king's justice, with the people and the gods as witnesses, thus beginning the judgment of the false hero Jon."