Book 2: Chapter Four

**This page is part of the storyline.**Do not edit it in any way.

Firefly was surprised at how he had joined the party. He had not seen another person ever since the Crash. And he was able to join the first group he saw - and they happened to be none other than the Heroes from the Prophecy. And he also was a hero!

But he knew that he couldn’t just *join* the party. He needed allies. So he walked up to a person named Formula. Their names both started with the letter “F”, after all. He saw the absurdity in that, but he really had no similarities with anybody else in the group.

His fox also felt nervous through his owner and whined slightly.

“Umm… how are you doing?” he asked, then immediately regretted it. He knew a bit of psychology and knew that saying that as a first impression would make him considered as “annoying”.

“Fine, thank you,” Formula answered politely. “How about you?”

“I’m… okay,” Firefly said, glancing nervously at him before lowering his eyes again. He was always like this around strangers, on Earth or otherwise.

Formula also knew some psychology, and although he was quick to anger he had a moderate skill in putting people at ease. “Don’t know why you joined us - some of us have creaky bones.”

Firefly had heard the conversation and nodded. He decided that he liked the blue-clad warrior. Despite the fact that he was still nervous, he attempted some humor.

“I heard that brewing a diamond wafer helps with creaky bones,” he said.

Zeko started laughing and Alya’s shoulders appeared to be shaking. After a moment of fake-glaring at Firefly, Formula also started laughing.

Sound mockingly shook his head at the rest of the party. “They’ll keep themselves busy. Us sophisticated members need not to hear the trivial matters of creakiness.”

Doge seemed to agree along with Wulf.

“Inu is in sight,” Ghast suddenly announced. Inu was the location in which they would rest. As Ghast had mentioned a few days earlier, it was a lively town that looked as if it had plenty of inns. It appeared to be moderately rich and the inhabitants seemed to be happy there.

The party moved towards the town, completely ignoring the dark forest that surrounded either sides of the pathway. It proved to be a mistake.

Far in front of them, a monster army waited to ambush the Heroes. Three Necromancers continuously spawned Ghouls until they nearly ran out of mana. They drank mana potions and continued to spawn the undead. Five Irontusks were also crouched down, snuffling with each breath. In all, it was an extremely dangerous army, with hundreds of Ghouls surrounding five barbarians that held massive clubs. And with three Necromancers boosting them.

As the Heroes moved forward, unknowing of the danger that awaited them, Arlo suddenly shouted.

“Stop!”

The party looked at him incredulously but stopped.

“I sense danger… a premonition, I suppose. Let’s get in battle formation - it never hurts to be cautious.”

Ghast looked annoyed and Firefly looked confused, but they all arranged themselves into a triangle. Except Firefly.

“Stand beside me. We’re getting into formation,” Sound muttered to Firefly. A perfect triangle formed.

“Forward!” Arlo shouted, and the party began to move forward. A few days before, the group had decided that he was battle commander. Although Wulf was better at tactics, he was a valuable fighter while Arlo had a mere better-than-average sort of skill. As incapacitated as Arlo was, he had found interest in battle tactics and had read books about the topic. There were plenty of people in the party that were better than him with skill in the sword and dagger, but he knew how to create valuable advantages with formation.

At that point, the monsters broke loose.

They swarmed in front of the party and charged them. The Irontusks stood back, assessing the skills of the party.

Arlo called out, “Halt!”

The party stopped. They all got into defensive stances and the person at the front (Doge) pulled out a large tower shield. It was instrumental that he would smash into the monsters and create the most havoc so that they could create a breach and cause confusion.

“Meet them!” The party braced themselves against the charge and dispatched the eighty monsters that approached with extreme efficiency. The only thing that was lost was durability in the weapons - not one of the party was hit.

The monsters obviously had no formations to speak of and the eighty monsters that had left them created holes in the swarm of them that they could use. “Charge!” Arlo shouted, lifting his sword. He cast several spells that created a small but exploitable gap in the party's assailants.

The party crashed into them, creating chaos in the monsters’ ranks. Doge spammed “Shield Bash” and created mass casualties while the rest of the party used large sweeping moves that sliced into the monsters, also creating mass casualties. In the end, the party had reached the other side of the army.

Arlo called out. “Return, then shield wall!”

The party ran back to their original place, slightly disorganized, and created a two-rank shield wall. Each of the party members had lances and large shields (although not tower shields) that would repel the monsters. All except Firefly. Arlo tossed him one of the shields and a lance, where he immediately stood next to Formula. He muttered a few words, running his fingers down the shield. It shined with a minor enchantment.

Formula’s eyes widened. “You’re an enchanter?” he asked.

Firefly nodded. “A minor one. I’m not that good - I’m a better warrior.”

Formula smiled. “I suppose I’ll see your skill during this battle. Good luck.”

The remaining monsters charged the shield wall. It held fast, and a quarter of the monsters were quickly skewered on the lances, both from the front rank and back rank. It really was an unbeatable tactic.

But then the Irontusks stepped forward. They literally crushed the monsters under their feet as they walked forward. Arlo was silent as they approached.

Once they finally came five meters away from the shield wall, Arlo gave the command. “Pick them off, one by one, and defend the attackers from the rest!”

But the final command was unneeded. The Irontusks didn’t look like they cared as the party surrounded one of their own and started stabbing. Even the one that was surrounded simply stood there, uncaring of the lances that hit it.

They bounced off of it.

Arlo said, “Continue stabbing! Their protection can’t hold out for a long time!”

He saw that the Irontusks could not have been put in a Rune Chamber, for they didn’t have anything that marked their skin. It looked like ordinary skin, no purple shading that would have been on them if they had been in a Rune Chamber. He had seen the three Necromancers behind them and assumed that they were protecting it.

His assumption was not ill-founded. Eventually, the Necromancers started looking exhausted.

Arlo suddenly had an idea. Although they could technically stab at the Irontusk until it finally ran out of protection, he could have the party lash out at the others. The Necromancers seemed to be only focused on the Irontusk that was being stabbed at. And that could prove to be their undoing.

“Attack the other Irontusks!”

They roared as the party charged them, and squealed in pain as they were stabbed. Large clubs swept out, sending members of the party flying, even if they had their shields up.

The only member of the party that didn’t have that happen to them was… Firefly. And Zeko.

He had seen the Irontusks and had enchanted his shield with “Surefooted III”, which was more than enough to stop the monsters from knocking him backwards. Zeko already had a shield with “Surefooted VI”. He had his own shield with the enchantment, not needing the ones that Arlo had issued. They both continuously damaged a single Irontusk and it couldn’t do anything. But another one was sneaking behind Firefly - although each of its steps equaled the sound of someone bashing a large, hollow metal object against a tree. In the heat of the battle, he didn’t notice.

Arlo shouted to Firefly - “Retreat!” - and he was able to run off before the Irontusk smashed its club into him. If it had landed, he might have died. If he didn’t, he would still be left with very little.

“I see your have the Surefooted enchantment on your shield… tier three, I assume?” Arlo said the Firefly. “Could you enchant the rest of our shields with it?”

He nodded. “I could, but I need mana potions to do all of ours…” he said nervously, as if he thought Arlo had none. Arlo was no magic user, but he had mana potions for if he ever came across one, Descendant or not.

“I have plenty.”

“Good…” Firefly replied and walked over to the nearest person and started enchanting it. Three mana potions later, all of the shields were enchanted with Surefooted III and Firefly was exhausted. Three mana potions didn’t seem to be enough. Arlo handed him another potion and as Firefly drank it, he seemed to become more and more rejuvenated.

“Shield wall!” Arlo shouted again, and everybody dashed out. The Irontusks seemed to be waiting for them to do so and started walking towards the shield wall. The party had more confidence as they knew that they would not be blown away by the massive clubs.

They had finally defeated the Irontusks and Necromancers. After the mages died, the Ghouls had fled from them. The ones that didn’t were taken down by Sound. They sat down, exhausted by the battering they had taken.

As they sat there an elderly man approached cautiously.

“Thank you for defeating that army. They harassed us for several months on end. Their defeat will make the world better. Who is your commander?” he asked, almost in awe.

Arlo rose, and extended his hand to the man and he shook it. “I am the battle commander.”

“I will provide hospitality for you and your soldiers. My name is Atlan, leader of this town. Our warriors are humbled by your skills,” he added.

“Thank you, sir.”

“I will rest here for a moment. My old, creaky bones brought me here; I will need to give them a small amount of respite,” Atlan said.

Alya, Formula and Zeko looked at each other and laughed.

<--- Previous chapter | Next chapter --->