My gaze was one of complete sadness.
Not because I didn't know the inevitable fate that awaited us, but because of the harsh reminder that the person I love is going to die… and I won't be able to do anything about it.
Powerlessness and anger filled my heart.
Today, it was impossible for me to fall to the curse of despair.
"I have to tell her. At least today… I have to tell her, once again, what we both know but I can't bring myself to say."
But I couldn't.
I wanted to tell her that I love her.
That no matter what happens, I would protect her.
That I would escape with her, keep her safe…
Yet, I won't.
And enduring a pain greater than any wound caused by monsters, until now… I swallowed the words I wanted to tell her.
"That won't happen. I won't allow it to happen."
"It will certainly happen. However, I'm happy that I'll spend my last moments with my friends, Midas."
"I would like to make one more request, Midas.
We don't have much time left, so… would you…?"
Then, the sound of war trumpets reached us.
Ariel looked sadder than ever, yet she immediately shifted her expression to her usual serious gaze.
"It's a shame. Forget it.
We have work to do, Strategos Midas."
"Yes. It's a shame… Let's go."
At the top of the wall, I was in my combat position.
Today, the command of my legion was handed over to Hernan.
I was glad; after all, my skutari would be in the hands of the third most capable commanders here.
The rest of the commanders were spread across the walls and the ground.
Eithne, Ariel, and I were in charge of the main impact zone of the monster waves.
The first to arrive were the harpies.
Thousands of them sought to pave the way for the corrupted dragons.
I had always lamented the premature death of their species.
"How different would things have been if not all of them had died?"
I lamented every loss we suffered due to our incompetence.
"If the Great Hero had seen us back then… he would certainly be disappointed."
Fearing that despair would deepen within me, I clung to the closest thing I had: hatred.
Besides those monstrous creatures, there are many other things to hate.
The gods.
Yes, they all vanished. They abandoned us to our fate.
My rage, my hatred toward those who abandoned us, was a good weapon against despair.
The harpies were closing in.
"Well… at least they left us blessings to fight with."
I gathered the power of the Lightning God's blessing in my arm and took one of the Manemita spears.
The blue glow became even more vivid as the lightning mana coursed through it.
I got into position… and threw.
An incredibly powerful thunderclap sounded.
Where the swarm of harpies—numbered in the thousands—stood, a huge hole suddenly opened in the sky.
The lightning spread, incinerating those miserable creatures.
As they were reduced to nothing but ashes, Eithne ordered her legion to fire at will.
The arrows flew farther than possible for any normal archer.
Partly thanks to Eithne's blessing.
And partly, thanks to the martial prowess of elves as archers.
And so, we continued decimating the horde of harpies.
Failing to advance as expected, the monstrous vampires on the ground probably began charging the walls, attempting to climb them.
However, these walls were the pride of dwarven-gnome engineering.
Climbing them was simply impossible.
There was no place to get a grip.
I still had more than sixteen spears left.
I had to save them for the real monsters that would come.
The monstrous vampires couldn't even dent the wall.
They all ended up dying, either from the cannon towers' fire, or from the arrows and spells of archers and mages when they grouped together.
The corpses of those beasts exploded, splattering their corrupted blood all over.
But then… in the distance, those damn beasts appeared.
The Behemoths.
Gigantic creatures, a hundred meters tall, walking on four legs.
If I had to describe them, I would say their bodies were similar to elephants.
But their faces…
Resemble those of a goat.
Of course, a monstrous goat, eyeless, with six horns.
But I'm sure there's some goat in them.
"Is this all they've brought? It won't be enough to break the wall…"
I had vague hopes that this day would be completely manageable. Just one more in a long line of days of slaughter.
However, my hopes were crushed when I spotted, kilometers away, the enemy commander.
Our city was defenseless against him.
He had been a renowned mage.
A disciple, in fact, of the God of Knowledge and Magic.
"What a joke… taking someone without character as a disciple like him."
He was among the first to fall to the curse of despair.
"Using my spear would be a waste… and dangerous.
He could just open a portal… and redirect it here."
Ariel cannot venture outside the safety of the wall.
No one can.
We would die instantly.
Eithne's poor scouts paid with their lives for the little information they brought us.
They made it far only because they were too insignificant for the enemy to bother exterminating immediately.
The dark mage began breaking the city's magical defenses.
With that, our anti-teleportation protection on the walls was gone.
Hopefully, he would have to get a few meters closer to keep canceling our defenses.
But if he does… Ariel will simply kill him.
Again.
She learned her lesson after dying a couple of times.
Then, portals opened around us.
And what emerged from them…
Were the corpses of the monstrous vampires we had easily killed not long ago.
"Quick! Destroy the bodies! Leave nothing!"
Eithne shouted.
However, the corpses quickly joined together…
And abominations were formed from the parts of those beasts.
They were so disgusting that I felt nauseated.
We prepared to counterattack.
It was the only thing we could do.
We were powerless against teleportation magic.
The greatest mages were in charge of magical defenses.
And yet, none of them had the attack range that the dark mage had.
"I don't want to touch those things… not even with my sword."
I let the expression of disgust naturally spread across my face.
Just like the lightning, which spread through my body to my hand…
And I released it with all its power.
Fired at the creatures…
One by one, I pierced holes in their grotesque bodies.
However, every time I destroyed them with my lightning, their bodies reassembled with astonishing speed.
"So disgusting… I can hear their flesh joining again."
"Eithne, we have to deal with the dark mage if we want to get rid of this thing."
"Are you asking a poor Archon-level archer to face a legendary-level mage???"
Eithne looked at me as if I were an executioner who had sentenced her to death today.
"No, what I ask of you is to create a slight opportunity for my spear to pierce that bastard's heart."
Eithne smiled.
"I know, I'm just teasing you."
The bloody mass, made of monstrous vampires, grew larger. But Eithne's legion did everything it could to contain it.
Eithne manifested a hawk the size of a horse and soared to the top of one of the towers of the Last Bastion.
There, she prepared to aim at the Dark Mage.
However, he didn't stay still. When he sensed Eithne's murderous intent, he split his body into multiple clones while maintaining the spell on the flesh amalgam.
For my part, I prepared to launch one of the Manemita spears.
I materialized it in my hand, letting the mana flow through my body, letting the intoxicating feeling of power spread.
I fixed my eyes on my target.
"If Eithne manages to bypass his defenses, I'll take care of him."
Eithne, atop the tower, materialized a massive bow, with golden branches elegantly entwined with green ones.
Then Eithne spoke to the bow:
"Father, it's me, your daughter. Once again, I face those who destroyed our home."
The bow, seeming to react to Eithne's words, extended its green branches along the small elf's arm.
"I need you, father. Allow my aim to be precise and allow my aim to be deadly. Let my arrow fly to its target."
The roots extended past her arm and began creeping into the corners of her eyes.
The pain was enough to make any veteran warrior scream.
However, she had already fixed her gaze on her target. There was nothing else for her.
There was no more Eithne. No more Dark Mage.
She was simply a hunter… and her prey.
Despite the distance, the hunter saw her target and finally paid attention.
She finally considered the hunter as a threat; yet, at that moment, she fell into the trap.
She revealed the scent of a frightened prey to her hunter.
It no longer mattered how many illusions of him existed; the hunter wouldn't lose the scent of her prey. The scent of fear.
Finally, the roots stopped spreading across the hunter's body.
Once a small elf, she was now unrecognizable:
Limbs elongated and curved to chase her prey.
Eyes like a predator's, glowing orange.
Much larger ears to sense her prey's movements as it ran.
A body protected by Mother Nature, much taller and intimidating, radiating a green aura from the ether escaping her body.
The hunter drew her bow.
The Dark Mage, in contrast, created ten barriers to protect himself from the fierce shot.
Now, with his gaze fixed on the hunter, the prey could do nothing but watch every movement, preparing, giving everything to avoid the attack.
They clashed eyes kilometers apart: with heightened senses, the prey saw the hunter's eyes fixed, increasingly fearful of the attack.
The prey didn't miss a single movement, no matter how small.
THEN, A LIGHTNING BOLT SHOT TOWARDS HIM.
Midas' Manemita spear struck the shield directly.
The explosion sent lightning spreading across the barrier.
The Dark Mage finally looked away and realized he had been tricked.
He had been listening to the conversation between Midas and Eithne, expecting the first attack to come from her.
However, now he understood. With eyes wide, feeling his mana drain from defending against the damage and the barrier explosion, Eithne's transformation had hypnotic abilities that terrified him.
His mind went blank. He couldn't respond in time to Midas' attack.
He looked back at the hunter, no longer feeling the fear that had ruled him.
The hunter looked at him with a radiant smile. Showing her teeth, now turned into fangs.
A radiant and fierce gaze, because her little trick had worked.
The hunter released the arrow, which shot with much more force than Midas' own Manemita spear.
Only five defense plates remained, but they were pierced like paper by the hunter's great arrow.
The attack was unstoppable, heading towards the Dark Mage's true body.
Then, as the second plate was pierced, almost instinctively, he prepared to teleport away.
However…
A seal appeared exactly where he stood. A golden seal of silence.
The mage looked up and saw his unwavering killer: the woman who had killed him countless times, looking at him as if he were an ant.
And then, she stopped paying attention to him.
The over-two-meter arrow finally pierced the last layer and pulverized the entire lower half of the Dark Mage's body.
He began to fade, as the ether keeping him in the world finally ran out.
Eithne, exhausted, reversed her transformation.
A sea of blood gushed from most of her orifices.