Isekai Rohan

[27 minutes left]

Having left the bulk of her army behind, as they were literally infantry and without mounts, Bethel, Clam, Chloe and Violet all felt goose bumps and cold shivers assault their bodies the closer they got to the slimy-beating heart. Being privy to a clear view of it, through the red barrier that protected it, she could almost make out the outlines of a humanoid within, an adult being curled up like a baby would, within its mother's womb.

 

"ON ME! ON ME! STAY CLOSE!"

 

Leading the cavalry charge at the very front, the elites of Trichia tore through dozens of ghouls, literally tearing their limbs of as their frail bodies failed to inflict any meaningful damage to either the skeletal horses that granted no flesh to stab into, not the humans who were clad in either steel and kite shields, or Trichia's innovative hardened leather.

With a raging heart slamming and pounding with adrenaline, her desire to perform and to truly become a [Hero] Bethel shrugged of her fear and fright, ignoring the screeching and rancid smell that naturally came with rotting flesh upon the ghouls, tearing her great sword through her enemies as if it were a lance, empowering it with [Blazing]

 

Clam, naturally being basically shoulder to shoulder with the woman was equally empowering both his mace and shield with [Divinity] all the while ensuring Bethel wouldn't be able to escape his sight as she typically would.

Gary, riding just behind the man he was always following, endeavoured to remain within the man's shadow as he was more or less stuck trying to keep his ass on the hard bone below, gritting his teeth as he did so.

 

Being the person actually controlling both skeleton-infantry and horses, Violet was more focused on manipulating orders and ensuring they remained in line, as skeletons without functioning brains, they would honestly just run havoc if she didn't consciously control them. Whilst they wouldn't attack people she considered to be allies, they would fight like barbarians, without order or structure. 

As for Chloe, she took the chance to fire arrow after arrow, being the highly mobile artillery machine that she was, she was trying to slaughter the cultists who were actively shielding the weird looking thing. Although currently failing to do so, as the ghouls were sacrificing themselves to protect their summoners.

 

"Kill the summoners and the undead will stop spawning! Also, the barrier should break!" Firing a dozen more arrows in rapid succession, the half-elf was honestly just trying to annoy the cultists, obscuring their vision as they began to struggle in concentrating and casting their abilities.

 

"Got it!"

 

 

[25]

 

 

Seeing their ghouls failing to stop the skeleton cavalry, the cultists quickly sliced of their own pinkies in sacrifice, utilizing it as the catalyst to summon rock golems that emerged under the ghoul army itself. Causing havoc and mayhem as the tail of the cavalry was caught, resulting in a dozen knights being trampled and crushed into mince meat alongside their mounts.

Whilst the human cavalry believed themselves to be safe, as they were approaching the far end of the ghouls and almost completing their breakthrough to engage the summoners themselves. Chloe and Violet had been keeping an eye on the new arrivals, frowning when the rock golems began to curl up like armadillos and rolling towards them, flattening even their own.

A last glance at Bethel's conviction, her eyes that were tunnel visioning into the summoners and she knew what she had to do. Gesturing to her trusted companion, the skeletal army fractured as the two half-elves remained behind to fend of the golems on their lonesome.

 

With their hearts racing due to both adrenaline and nerves prickling their skin, the two recalled their time together, back when they were fighting the dhans and were on the brink of defeat. 

"Nothing new, just another day in service to the duke of war. Right?"

Violet began to grin as she summoned both [Summon Skeleton] and [Summon Skeleton Knight] resulting in a sudden emergence of a force of 240 strong, with the humans finally reaching their first of the ghouls, the enemy army was now officially caught within a hammer and anvil stratagem, a pincer attack.

"After this, I'm going to order cake and place it all on Bethel's tab."

 

[Bone Artillery] !

 

[Thunderstorm] !

 

With dozens upon dozens of suicidal skeletons throwing themselves at the golems, latching themselves onto it and slowly causing the rolling ball to halt due to changing into a literal square, a chaotic melee erupted as both ghouls and skeletons no longer had their masters ordering them around.

Due to their risky position, deep in enemy lines, Violet was empowering her mithril staff with mana and utilizing it as a blunt weapon, crushing skulls and limbs. As for Chloe Bedevere, the half-elf was firing arrow after arrow, decimating and slaughtering dozens with each bowstring pull. Just like in Aevraury, a mountain pile of corpses began to build as their nimble feet continued to climb, to ensure they had the best vantage point possible.

 

 

 

[23]

 

 

Bethel wasn't aware of it, but Oliver's [Courageous Aura] was honestly godsend, ensuring the men who were surrounding by the walking dead didn't falter, as they bravely followed along their temporary commander. 

Tearing through the last of the ghouls, the remaining knights turned and protected their flanks, fighting back the tide of undead that endeavoured to protect their casters. Leaving Bethel, Clam, Gary and Oliver to fight 10 cultists.

 

Upon the ground was a red glyph, where all patterns and symbols all ended up returning to the heart like a funnel.

"Boys, if we fail to kill them, to destroy that ugly fucking thing, we'll have to worry about more than just dekans... They're summoning demons." Galloping further into the enemy rear, the skeletal horses slowly crumbled and broke down before vanishing entirely, forcing the four to advance on foot. Hearing the strong belief in her words, only Gary was sending the woman a questionable gaze. "Trust me, top secret information straight from the duke."

Hearing such a white lie, and falling for it, Gary kept his mouth shut and his eyes upon the group that were eying them up as if they were sacrificial ingredients.

"Is it too much to ask for a morale boost? A rousing speech?"

 

"Shut up, fight and don't die."

 

With over a dozen ghouls that stood at 2 metres tall charging towards them, screaming to the point that their jaws were breaking and falling off its hinges, Bethel had no time to entertain Gary, to calm his nerves.

 

[Massacre] !

 

The powerful swing she used to love spamming, until she met Asai and Robin that is, easily returned the ghouls back to the world of undead. With Clam and Oliver marching on either side, and Gary somewhat remaining within her shadow, she continued to advance as she quickly weapon swapped her giant sized great sword back to [Mirror Blade]

 

"Four versus four! Come! Fight with honour!" She declared, loud and clear.

 

The cultists in return broke out into laughter, as they weren't stupid enough to send their brothers in one by one for something so flimsy such as honour. 9 out of 10 broke out of formation, leaving their weakest brother behind to continue fuelling the barrier that protected only the ritual, just in case the highly annoying half-elf decided to fire her dastardly arrows into this direction again.

 

[20]

 

A large repertoire of weapons manifested upon their bodies, including armour, shield and capes, all created out of highly condensed red blood. Claws, katars, rapiers, cleavers, longswords, daggers, sickles and scythes, the cultists made their intentions clear, and thus Bethel decided not to waste any more time trying to gain any advantages through dialogue, but instead via her fist and sword.

 

Taking on three herself, Bethel urged her body into the fray as she ruined the encirclement they were slowly creating. Clam also aggressively took on three, ensuring his position was relatively close to Bethel's to continue casting [Defending Nature] With training received directly from the duke himself, in regards to being a tank, he prioritized stalling and delaying over actually killing them. As they were honestly incredibly slippery and agile, he was quite thankful his role didn't demand much of him.

 

Oliver took on two, keeping an eye on his companions as he instantly began to ramp up [Order Swing] slamming his sword into the mini red barriers that kept appearing before him like glass. Shattering one after the other as the two began to kite him away from his allies.

With their own little fights already starting, the last remaining cultists was having a staring contest with Gary, who was equally scrutinizing the person, both refusing to move first as they waited for their opponent to show their hand. Both being reactionary in style, when it came to 1 on 1 duels, they slowly circled around within their own little bubble, occasionally lunging and performing feints, testing one and another.

 

"Come on then, come at me bro!"

"No you, look at you, you look like a mess, I bet I could take you out easily!"

"Oh yeah? Come try me then."

"Yeah, that's right, I'll whoop your ass boy."

 

 

[19]