"We managed to barely win commander this time but at what cost?!" A soldier shouted not in jubilation but anger. "What fool would take victory for defeat? If you're unhappy with your circumstances then feel free to leave like the cowards before you." A voice echoed right after filled with authority.
The man's face known as the commander was riddled with a lot of scars, one running across his temple, down his left eye to his cheek. His name was Isen Vance, a man of many accolades and acquired great respect from his men. However with the death of the crown and his offsprings, most had chosen to flee the town.
Not to mention with the high death toll, this further demoralized the soldiers from fighting. "Only a fool like you would bother fighting a losing war! It's not just you but the rest who bother with this forsaken kingdom as well. So what if you manage to ward of these beasts? Do you think that reclaiming the crown will be easy?!"
The man from before retorted, his words digging deep into those around him. Though he looked like a fool facing Isen, he voiced the rests worries. "If you want to keep on toiling for this land then please with all due respect but I leave!"
The man threw his helmet to the ground with indignation before storming off. The rest looked at him, their faces ridden with fatigue and hunger. The town they had been fending off the horde from, Mirevale, was slowly losing it's population.
The soil was corrupted with the beasts blood making it unable to bear crops while others fell without reason. Those who fought the beasts for far too long would contract strange illnesses with no feasible cure. "Are there any more cowards in my army? Because if so then this is the time that you can leave." His army with hundreds of men had at most thirty people.
One by one some of them started to distance themselves from the crowd reducing the number to twenty. "Leave! Redfall has no space for cowards like you!" Isen shouted at those who left. 'Damn it! With low numbers such as these, I doubt that we'll be able to hold off the next wave of attacks.' He cursed inwardly looking at those who left.
"Sir! We won't be able to fend off the next wave. It would be best if we retreat and abandon Mirevale." One mused, their tone low angering Isen. "And admit defeat?! And if we were where would we go? Ye capital isn't ours and other kingdoms won't take in such an influx of people at once. We're better off dying here."
He puffed his chest making the soldier hesitate as he fell back in line. "Rest, for tomorrow we'll give it out all. Either we live to fight another day or die trying!" His loud voice received by his men with apathy. His once motivating speeches were now useless to them. They knew that they weren't that far off from death's door, be it exhaustion or the beasts, their end would be noble though grim.
***
"Isen, we're glad with your victory." The town chief mused with a thin smile. His frame thin due to hunger as the lands were now barren. "There's nothing to thank me for Berrick, however I'm not sure that we will see tomorrow's sunset. The waves as of late have been getting restless, each more formidable than the last."
His tone filled with exhaustion as the two made their way through the town. Kids marveling and cheering at the soldiers before were now blank. Their faces long lost the charm and intrigue they once had. The state of the town wasn't better either, empty stalls and other residential homes had been emptied.
Those gone to gone to more favorable places. Berrick opened his office door and the two stepped in. "Hah!" Before he could make it to his seat, he collapsed but thanks to Isen's quick reaction he managed to catch him. "Thank you Isen. Without your intervention and perseverance, I'm sure that this town would have met it's end long ago."
"There's no need to thank me. I'm doing my part as a soldier and commander for Redfall." Laughing it off, a strange silence filled the room. "Some of your men came here earlier, stating the dire state of the war. You don't have to push yourself so hard Isen, you've done more than what you can for us. Death comes for all in the end."
Isen nervously gulped, as much as he shouted bravery and sold it to the townsfolk, he was delusional with what was to come. "There's nothing more to this town. The lands are barren, shops stripped clean of any food supplies and even some are resorting to cannibalism. It would be best to let everyone die."
Berrick sighed, his face darkening as he recalled the happier times. When people would mind their own lives without a care, the sound of children playing filling the streets and stalls begging those passing to check their products.
His frame a ghost of what he once was, his clothes disheveled and covered in filth as the water too had grown poisonous to drink. And what made it even more infuriating was that they had no clear picture of the poison. They tried to cleanse the water through known and new means but the lethality of the water would remain the same.
"There's no need for such grim words Berrick, have some faith and everything will be fine." Berrick merely let out a helpless laugh. "Faith? Who am I meant to believe in? The gods?!" His tone laced with venom and rage, cursing at the heavens for what was happening.
Mirevale, a shabby town in Redfall could barely keep up with the more developed towns and cities as most would avoid it for it's backwater thematic which further drove them deeper into poverty. "Even if the waves of beasts were to disappear, what about the lands and water? What use would they be?"
Mirevale didn't have a nearby mine or any other natural resource that they could trade with the rest of Redfall so it's use even with the purging of the anomalies wouldn't increase. And with the sharp depopulation problem, it was only set for doom as it would be hard to conceive people to move to such a remote place.
"I... I'll be taking my leave. Don't stress yourself too much old man or you might faint and break your neck." A joke that didn't land forcing him to leave. Once outside Berrick's room, Isen felt a sharp pain run across his chest followed with him spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"Gah!" The pain flaring in his chest, his vision growing dim however he clenched his fists and went on. "So what if I die? I know that I died serving my kingdom." He muttered to himself before taking his leave.
***
"Sir, ten more people have left! Should we even bother with this?!" The first piece of information wasn't pleasant to hear. "Those bastards! Even with the lack of food and means of transportation, they still bothered. They'll die regardless." With Mirevale's remote location, those who had bothered fleeing wouldn't manage to make it far before hunger or fatigue claimed them.
"Round up the remaining men, we die as heroes today!" But his soldier wasn't done. "Sir! Two managed to pass away in their sleep due to the green plague." With all of these losses combined, he had gone from an army with two hundred men to eight men. The loss in numbers was laughable.
Still he grabbed his sword, a steely determination burning in his eyes before marching to his supposed grave. From afar, he could already see the swarm of abominations make their way. At one time five were now in the twenties but what irked him even more was that he had never managed to fell one.
The abominations with a closer look of his binoculars came with ear piercing gnarls and cries. Their physique was that of absurdly huge hounds, their faces uncannily similar to humans. Their skin though soft exposed flesh was hard to cut, each strike less effective than the last to the point it was impossible to harm the beasts.
However some had different body shapes, others had boar like bodies, slower but more aggressive and grotesque to look at. Others more agile akin to cheetahs with spots all over and at the far back were bigger l, somewhat humane like freaks.
Just a mere glance at this made his men shudder at what was to come. "I know that at this point these speeches are pointless and I would be lying telling you that we're coming out of this alive!" He began with a curse before resuming. "However, we have nothing else better to do. We're the best of Redfall soldiers and dying on the battlefield is where we belong!"
Shouts of jeers and hollers of support rang through the air, though faint it was enough to reassure Isen. "Then let's do this! Wait till they come close enough so that we can deploy the traps!" He urged at a nearby archer. "Or course, awaiting your command!" The man declared with his bow aimed at a lever.
...
The horde drew closer, the ground beneath their feet rumbling before his order finally rang through. "Now!"
*Whoosh*
The arrow whizzed through the air before splintering the lever.
*Bam*
Barrels of oil spilled, covering the entire entrance to the town. Other means for defense such as setting mines and such had been exhausted and the beasts had adapted to it. The worst feature other than their staggering regenerative healing. Another followed shortly after and a wall of fire came to sight.
One of his men, a pyro kinetic used the wall to cast projectiles at the beasts to help buy time before embracing their cold untimely death. "Gah! Hah!" Some of the beasts roared in frustration as their heads were blown off only to heal right after. The cheetah based freaks managed to dodge some.
"Now!" Isen shouted at another man who changed the terrain forming pit holes all over. Some fell and were engulfed in flames, others quick enough dodged. "I can't sir!" The man mused after a couple of minutes. They all hadn't eaten thus their overall effectiveness was sharply lowered and with their weakened morale, it only dampened their eagerness to fight.
*Thud*
The man collapsed to his knees, some making their way to make sure he was alright. 'Wind with these beasts is futile, water won't do much either. And no one here uses light or shadow.' Aware of where this was heading, he finally chose to retreat back in. "For those who can't fight anymore, make your way to the empty houses, those who can fight, prepare yourself for the battle to come!"
Two of the eight dragged themselves back to the likes but not out of the battlefield, wishing to die next to their comrades.
...
"Well this is childish." Callista sighed as she saw this scene from a nearby roof. Her presence still unknown to the soldiers. 'The other towns have already been overrun, it's a shame that this isn't.' Her plan of executing a large area of attack move was halted thanks to these people. But that didn't mean that she would blindly charged down and help them.
'You'll have to save some of them. The high profile ones that is. After all we'll need an army, right? After that you can kill as many as you'd like." Guinevere's words echoed in her head darkening her face. Those she had found overrun were now purged, Mirevale being the last on her trip.
'Let's see how these people can hold this horde. Even though most of them are already infected with radiation and will die regardless.' With her heightened senses, she could easily feel the radiated lands and water though not a bother to her crystalline physique.
'Radiation... Looks like I'll have to deal with that tentacle of a monstrosity Jarren talked about. Eric is probably watching it.' The more she thought about it, the more of a headache began to swell in her mind. 'Looks like I'll have to make my way back there then. I have to bid goodbye to my dad after all.' She chuckled inwardly as she feasted her eyes on the battle to come.