Clad in armour that looked to be made of leaves, Danse leapt from the Rhino. His greatsword formed from sparks in his hands as he landed in the snow. Looking at Lauri, the captain of the company could feel Danse's gaze even through the man's leafy helmet.
"We'll talk about you abandoning us later!"
Running, Lauri wildly swung his warhammer. Crushing the heads of whatever Nightmare Creatures lay between him and his team. Their heads splattered like melons as Lauri continued forward. By the time he had reached Danse, the other members of the Irregular Company had exited the Rhino.
Adjusting her shield, Katrina glanced around, her nose wrinkling in disgust.
"Eugh… they're even uglier up close. Couldn't I have just stayed back and sniped with Sansa and Mele?"
Another woman stepped up beside her, slipping an arm around Katrina's shoulders and pulling her close. Her voice was warm – almost teasing.
"Now, now, Kat… I'd hate to take all the fun away from you."
The woman leaned in slightly, her lips brushing close to Katrina's ear.
"Besides… You look far cuter when you're flustered."
The younger woman flushed, tightening her grip on her shield as she tried to look anywhere but at the woman beside her.
"I– th-that's not–"
Katrina stammered, face burning despite her attempts to pull away as a figure stepped into her peripheral vision.
"Nice of you to join us, Vick. Now are you two done flirting? We are kind of in the middle of a fight."
Katrina jerked slightly away from Vick, turning to see Lauri standing there – his warhammer discarded, buried in the skull of the nearest Festering Mongrel.
For a moment, she just stared.
Then, still flustered, she threw her hands up.
"Y-you! You're the one who decided to run off and fight a horde of Nightmare Creatures!"
Lauri raised a brow.
"You forgot to mention the Fallen Tyrant."
Katrina straightened. The faint redness on her face disappeared, replaced as her skin turned pale.
"Fa-fa-fa– We rammed into a Fallen Tyrant! I told Lucky that was a bad idea!"
A pause. Lauri face-palmed.
"…Of course, that was his idea."
The Rhino lurched.
With a grinding roar of engines, the massive vehicle tore itself free from the Tyrant's bulk, metal shrieking as it reversed hard. Snow and debris were scattered in its wake as it pulled back, putting distance between itself and the towering abomination before it could retaliate.
The moment of levity was shattered as the Tyrant unleashed a feral roar.
As if answering its call, the pack of fetid canines stirred. One by one, they dragged themselves upright, flames igniting within their eyes as they fixed their gaze on the humans.
Lauri, Danse, Katrina, and Vick shifted instinctively, closing ranks. Backs aligned, weapons raised – they formed a tight circle, ready to meet the oncoming storm.
For a moment, silence fell.
The fighters held their breath.
Only two sounds interrupted the stillness – the low, rumbling growl of the Rhino's engine, and the Tyrant's laboured, wet breathing.
Then, it broke.
The Tyrant roared.
And Lauri answered.
"Lucky! Get that thing the hell out of here!"
The engine roared in response.
The Rhino lurched into motion, its massive frame surging forward as it crushed through the swarm. Bone snapped, and bodies burst beneath its wheels. Some Nightmare Creatures were dragged under and ground into the snow as it forced its way clear.
Lauri didn't watch it go.
His focus snapped back to the battlefield.
Light gathered in his hand.
And a weapon took shape.
Since the fight had begun, Lauri had used a variety of different weapons: a double-sided axe, a longsword, numerous short-swords, and a warhammer. Now he needed something else. If he intended to defeat the Tyrant, he would need something with a little range to avoid the inevitable bursts of pus.
'Oh, wait, that's a point.'
As Lauri created a glaive reminiscent of the one Soul Reaper Jet often wielded, he called out to give orders and one last piece of advice.
"Danse, with me – we're taking the Tyrant! Katrina, Vick, deal with the pack! And whatever you do, do not let the pus or other fluids touch you!
Raising two fingers, he gestured to the lesser Nightmare Creatures. The cohort's ranged fighters were already at work, their arrows fell with deadly accuracy. Both found their mark – a pair of feral hounds dropped where they stood, skulls pierced clean through.
More arrows streaked across the night sky, but Lauri didn't spare them a glance.
After all.
He had a Tyrant to slay.
Leaving the two women behind, Lauri and Danse charged through the horde. Their weapons fell indiscriminately, butchering the relentless fiends that sought their death. Lauri remained by Danse's side, covering each other as needed.
The leaves making up Danse's armour rustled as he swept through the crowd, his greatsword moving with masterful precision and speed. As he cut the leg off one Festering Mongrel, something strange happened; the exact wound appeared on the opposite side of the Nightmare Creature's body, severing its other leg. With one more swift slash, Danse killed the Awakened Beast.
"Ha, mongrel!"
His voice thundered above the cacophony of violence.
"These things don't hold a single candle to Lady Mongrel! I'll kill them for besmirching her name!"
Cutting through a lesser hound, Lauri shot Danse a humoured look.
"I hope you'd kill these things regardless!"
Danse's only response was a sharp cackle as he stepped into his next attack, his blade driving forward without hesitation. The sword plunged into the left eye of a charging mutt, punching clean through with a wet crunch.
Again the strike echoed.
An invisible force followed like the strike had been copied and reflected through a mirror. A second invisible blade drove through the creature's right eye, perfectly mirroring the first.
The mutt didn't even have time to howl. Its body seizing mid-lunge, momentum carrying it forward for a step more before it collapsed, skull pierced clean through on both sides.
Danse wrenched his weapon free, laughter still spilling from his lips as he turned to meet the next attacker.
"So! What even is our plan for dealing with the Tyrant? You've got one, right?!"
One of the mutts slipped through Lauri's defences, clamping onto his left vambrace. Its fangs ground down, jaws straining to crush his arm – but they failed to pierce the protective layer of light.
Lauri didn't pull away. Instead, he dragged the creature closer by its maw. Then he struck. Lauri drove his head down into the Nightmare Creature's skull with brutal force. Bone caved beneath the impact, and the mutt collapsed instantly, its body going limp at his feet.
Pus splattered across the light coating his helmet, smearing the surface in thick, foul streaks. With a flicker of thought, Lauri dismissed the construct and summoned it again a heartbeat later allowing the filth to fall away.
"Honestly, I've got nothing! I thought we could just play it by ear!"
Throwing his head back, Danse roared with laughter.
"By the Dead Gods! How have we made it this far!"
A rain of arrows fell across the remaining Nightmare Creatures between Lauri, Danse, and the Tyrant – No, not arrows. Razor-sharp shards of glass cascaded from the sky, ripping through flesh as they shredded the swarm below.
Now there was nothing.
Whatever was left of the pack was currently engaging Katrina and Vick, leaving the two men and the Tyrant alone.
Spitting through the gap in his helmet, Danse levelled his greatsword against the Gate Guardian.
"This guy is so patient; he waited for us to get to him."
Chuckling, Lauri smiled.
"He did didn't he, let's give him a little reward."
Raising a hand, Lauri held up one finger, which he then pointed at the Fallen Tyrant.
A couple of moments passed as the beast began to surge forward, fully prepared to tear into the humans before it.
A chance it never received as something whistled through the night air, a lone arrow shot past Lauri's head.
On impact, it detonated in a violent explosion of incendiary napalm, sending a shower of searing, sticky flames across the Tyrant's massive body. Smoke hissed and steamed as patches of its matted fur and mottled flesh ignited, the foul stench of burning rot mixed with the creature's already putrid aura.
The Tyrant let out a guttural roar, staggering under the unexpected assault, as flames spread across its limbs and chest.
----
Some distance away from the melee, Mele and Sansa stood near each other.
Around Mele, a ring of arrows had been planted in the ground. When she drew one, her movements were precise and deliberate. At that moment, she pulled an arrow forged entirely of glass, its edge catching the faint glow from a luminous Memory Sansa had planted between them as she knocked it to her bow. With a practised motion, she drew back, aimed high and let it loose.
Sansa, by contrast, fired with relentless abandon. Arrows vanished from the quiver at her belt as if it had no end, each one loosed with uncanny precision, raining down on the Nightmare Creatures with unyielding efficiency.
Mele's eyes narrowed as she saw Lauri raise his hand.
"Seems Captain wants one of us to fire at the big one."
Lowering her bow slightly, Sansa glanced at Mele.
"What do you think, you or me?"
Clicking her tongue between her teeth, Mele shook her head as she reached for one of the farther arrows. Her fingers wrapped around the shaft, smooth and cool, the tip faintly glowing a deep, molten red – like a spark waiting to ignite. She drew the arrow from the ground and nocked it to her bow.
"Better be me, you'll just miss."
As Mele released the arrow, Sansa cut her eyes at her, her unimpressed expression tightening before she rolled her eyes.
"...Bitch."