Chapter 53:Survival for 24 hour part 2
Ank POV
Hour 3
By the third hour, the village was converted into a battlefield with blood of stone plant monsters everywhere and was now in complete chaos. Dead stone bodies piled high around us, forming walls of corpses .
In the air the smell of blood can only smell ,in every minute time was passing air was becoming more heavy and deadly.
I panted heavily, my sword that was on my arm was now numb. My body was on the brink of breaking, barely obeying my will. My clothes were torn, my skin cut in dozens of places.
Arthur's breathing was ragged. His swings had slowed, but every strike remained precise, each one killing efficiently.
The stone plant soldiers circled us endlessly, stepping over the dead bodies of their fallen kin. Their eyes glowed with cold hunger ,they were not carrying about anything except for one thing of killing us.
And for the first time since the battle began, silence fell.
Not because they stopped coming. But because I could no longer hear anything not the clash of weapons, not the roar of the monsters, not even Arthur's voice.my eardrums was destroyed .Only the pounding of my own heartbeat was the only thing I can hear now.
Three hours and I feel like dying already. How am I supposed to last twenty one more?
My legs trembled after realising how difficult this clash was . My arms ,my whole body ached so badly I could barely lift my sword. My chest felt heavy and each breath was reminding me that this was my end.
I wanted to fall. To collapse into the ground and let the tide consume me.
But then, a memory flashed in my mind.
Maya's smile, her laughter ,her teasing , the way she had confessed his feelings to me and how she enjoyed fireworks with me .
I don't know why but I want to save Maya.Maya became important to me without my knowledge and in mind only one thought was running.
If I die here Maya dies too.
The thought burned through the fog of exhaustion like fire.
I clenched my sword tighter, even as blood dripped from my hands.my healing once again heal my body completely but he cannot reduce the pain i was feeling now from the stone plant continuing assault .
"No matter what," I whispered through gritted teeth. "I'll survive."
The stone soldiers roared as if answering my defiance, rushing forward again.
And the battle continued.
The battlefield was no longer a battlefield , it was now a graveyard of stone plant monsters. Shattered bodies lay scattered in every direction,now in the center of the stone plant's body glowing faintly with the green energy that had once animated them. The dead bodies were surrounding us in every corner I didn't stop now ,I had to finish this battle. I don't want to lose .
Old man stood at my side, pale and drenched in sweat and blood . His missing arm bled no more, but the ragged cloth wrapped around it was soaked crimson. His remaining hand still gripped his sword like an unbreakable pillar, though I could see the hesitation in his movements,the old man was now at his limit .
We had survived three hours.
Only three.
And it felt like years.
Hour 4
The portals did not close. More stone soldiers start coming, endless without stopping, stepping over the corpse and debris of the village . Their emerald eyes locked onto us like a predators that knew their prey had nowhere to run.
I swung my sword, the motion sluggish, my whole body was screaming for pain again and again. From this moment a stone plant soldier's chest cracked open, shards flying as it crumbled into dust.
Another leapt forward instantly, swinging its jagged weapon down at me. I barely raised my blade in time. The impact rattled through my bones, forcing me back a step. My knees nearly buckled.
Too slow I'm getting slower.
"Ank!" Arthur's voice cut through my haze. "Footwork tighter! Use the dead bodies as cover!"
From the midst of chaos Arthur cannot stop motivating me ,his focus on surviving as well as trying to protect me by pointing out my mistakes and how I use the surroundings to my advantage.
I obeyed him without thinking. My master's commands were the only thing keeping me alive. I shifted back, letting a pile of broken soldiers block part of the oncoming tide. Their numbers crashed against it like water against rocks, slowing their advance just enough for me to catch my breath.
Arthur, even pale and shaking, moved like lightning. His blade pierced through one soldier's core, then swept sideways to decapitate another. Each motion was precise, measured efficiently in a way mine weren't.
He was conserving energy. I was wasting mine.
" Move fast with precision!" he barked between swings. "Don't waste your strength on killing one in one swing, kill as much as you can in one move . I clenched my teeth, nodding my head . My throat was dry, but I forced myself to reply to the old man
I will
The stone plant monsters didn't care about our conversation in their mind, they only wanted to be dead.
Every moment I was enduring immense pain because of the wounds that stone plant monsters were giving me but every time my body healed two more wounds appeared on my body .
Hour 5
The fifth hour was worse.
I feel like my sword became a hundred tons heavy because of my arms countless wounds , every movement became sluggish. The rubble under my feet became a trap, tripping me when I couldn't lift my legs high enough.
A soldier lunged. Its blade scraped my thigh, cutting deep. I staggered, nearly falling.
Pain flared through me, hot and sharp. My blood stained the broken ground.
"Damn it " I hissed.
Arthur's blade cut down the soldier before it could finish me. He spared me a glance, his face grim.
"Stay standing, Ank! The moment you fall, it's over!"
"I I know!" I shouted back , forcing my legs to move again.
My thigh screamed with pain, every step agony. But I had no choice. Stopping meant death.
So I fought.
I stopped aiming for clean kills. Instead, I slashed wildly, shattering limbs, crippling enemies enough to buy seconds. Arthur would finish them when he could.
Seconds. That's all we were buying. A few more seconds of life, stretched into eternity.
The thought twisted my stomach.
Twenty four hours? We can't. We'll die here. It's impossible.
The doubt gnawed at me, whispering in my mind. Every time I cut down one stone plant soldier, two more replaced it. The pile of rubble grew higher, but the tide never slowed.
I was drowning.
I will not lose if I lose. Maya will die.
The only thing that motivates me.