One hundred kilometers East of Galor city, in a large open field, a war was taking place. On one side was a wall of humans, forming a stalwart defence against a tide of non-human creatures.
With Galor city behind them, the soldiers could not directly charge into the line of beasts. The did not want to risk any of them escaping and running towards the city. If even one beast reached the walls of Galor, hundreds of people would die.
For some unknown reason, every time a portal opens the beasts would immediately charge towards the closest city. Also, they would always take the shortest route no matter what, and the shortest route between any two points is always a straight line.
Due to this, it was determined without a doubt that either these beasts were under the control of something else, or they had no sentience whatsoever, only acting on their natural instinct. Which in this case was to kill as many humans as possible, which did not make any sense.
After ten thousand years of attacks, humans had noticed the strange behaviour of these beasts. At first they thought the enemy killed for sustenance, but it was later discovered that the beasts did not eat humans except if their method of killing was directly swallowing the victim.
Most beasts just killed and moved on to the next human, like a squadron of soldiers with an order of genocide. The only beast to ever show any real intelligence was LLS Blitz wolf, this was determined by the way it methodically killed of the entire population above the Magic realm back then.
HIgher class beasts could also break this rule and go off course, however their destination was always the same.
Since the beasts almost always charged in a straight line, the soldiers from The Spear made a hundred meter long defensive line, while the actual thickness of the horde was seventy meters.
This made for a situation where the soldiers could just fire ahead at the incoming tide with reckless abandon, without moving from their positions.
However, even if their teamwork was flawless, the beats outnumbered them a hundred to one and eventually the defensive line shrunk until it became shorter than the thickness of the horde.
"Commander!, four on the left and two on the right!", one soldier shouted.
The leader of the soldiers looked to the left side of the defensive line, the soldiers on that side were fighting bravely but had already sustained injuries, allowing for four beasts to break through the line, and they currently were charging with a beeline for Galor city.
The same was happening on the other side of the line
The commander gritted his teeth as he severed the head of a red, tiger-like beast with six legs. "Squad 4 and 5, detach left side, Squad 7 and 2, detach right side. Remaining squadrons, thin out, fill holes and hold the line!" he shouted.
Following his orders, two groups of five soldiers each broke off from the defensive line and chased after the beasts which had broken though.
Alas, a few minutes later;
"Commander, three beasts have broken through the air line!" the same soldier from before shouted.
"Fuck!, where the hell is the Black Academy!?" the commander cursed. Air beasts were only a small fraction of the horde, no more than 3 percent, however they were still a threat.
Also, if an air beast reached the city, the walls would be useless, raising the threat level of this type of beast. The commander frantically looked around his battlefield for a solution.
Air beasts were fast, and a few seconds hesitation could cost lives, the commander knew this, however he was running out of options, and felt like pulling his hair out.
It was at this moment that a yellow bird with two horns on it's head fell to the ground, with an arrow going through it's head. "Captain, the Black Academy has arrived!" a soldier from the air line shouted.
However before the other soldiers could even sigh in relief, he added; "False alarm, it's an Academic but she is not a Defender and she is alone".
The commander furrowed his brows and looked to the sky, and sure enough, Zara was floating there with a bow in hand. Each arrow took out a beast in one shot, and in less than five seconds, all the air beasts which had broken through the defensive line where dead.
After that, Zara flew to the air defensive line and began shooting down the flying beasts with extreme dexterity. Ever since Khaos told her about the space ring, she had no need for a quiver.
Keeping her arrows in her ring made it possible to keep hundreds of them, and since she could summon them directly onto her hand, her shooting time was faster. She could even pull back an empty string and then summon the arrow afterward, only to release it in an instant.
"What are you doing here?" The commander shouted. "Where are the Defenders?". He did not stop fighting as he spoke though.
"I do not come from the Academy!" Zara replied. "I am looking from my friend, we were on a mission in Galor and our investigations led us to an area not far from here".
Mider had told Zara everything that had happened, and as far as Zara knew, Khaos was fighting for his life against an opponent at least two stages above him. She wanted nothing more than to search for him as the worst possibilities came to mind.
However, she still had duties as an Academic and as a human in general, she could not walk away from a battlefield against humanity's worst and only enemy. Especially not when she could see that her side was in dire need of help.
"That's too bad, do you have any idea why the Academy is taking so long to get here?" the commander asked.
"No i don't, but they will be here, we just have to hold on". Zara answered.
"Does that mean you will stay and help us?" the commander asked.
"Yes"
"What about your friend?"
"I have trust in him that he will survive, you guys need me more". Zara said as she took down two beasts with one arrow.
"Thank you, we really need all the help we can get", the commander said.
"Speaking of....." Zara glanced at the left side of the defensive line, where a giant bolt of golden lightning was moving towards them.