March of The Dead (MotD)

Corporal Yexam stood at his post, forced to listen to the distant explosions of the battle for Ivrand, capital city of Zalar. Far to the southeast, the only remaining Zalar city, Xesas, still stood defiant.

Occasionally, he thought he could hear the roar of their cannons, but he reasoned that it was just a figment of his imagination. Though he allowed the comfort the phantom sound brough.

So long as Xesas remained standing, however bloody, the Nation of Zalar stood a chance. But however fortified, supplied, and prepared, any single city could be conquered. And if Xesas did fall, the people of Zalar would have nowhere to run to except the sea.

The sea.

An area completely hostile to Humans just by the very fact that they can not breath underwater and very few know how to swim. And that is not even considering the vast multitude of Monsters so unfathomably powerful that even Masters would not hesitate to flee from them.

Fishermen did their job close to shore and never in close groups or high numbers, lest they attract a Monster who sees the effort of digesting them to be worth the hassle.

Yet still, with so little known about the Demons, the Zalarian Military Command had deemed it worth the time to build shore defenses, as well as the manpower to man them. Despite the belief that even the Demons would be fools to attempt an amphibious assault, the defenses were no less robust and thorough.

Lines of trenches, beginning a hundred yards from the shoreline, and fifty yards apart with a single thin trench running between each one down the middle to serve as a way to get between the trenches while still protected. The forward most trench was also armed with enough explosives to destroy a city wall.

There were three trenches from the shoreline, where the forth trench would be, there was instead a line of bunkers enchanted with reinforcement and hardening and each armed with a trio of Mana Cannons.

Yet even that was not enough.

That was only the first set. Further up the hill, was another set. The height of the hill gave the Mana Cannons in the second set an easy shot to destroy the bunkers from the first set while also being able to hit the trench just past those bunkers.

A hundred yards behind the second set's bunkers, a large earthen wall of stone had been constructed, little more than a steep berm, but with the combined height of the hill, gave it an incredible advantage, allowing its multitude of Mana Cannons to rain hell upon any foe fool enough to attempt it, as well as countless small holes where soldiers armed with the Rifles could fire upon them.

Essentially, Corporal Yexam doubted the Demons would be foolish enough to not only brave the horrors of the ocean, and then immediately face the death that awaited them on the beach.

He had been stationed here at the beaches, being moved along the different stations to avoid stagnation, since the war began. It was perhaps the 'easiest' and 'safest' post. But the Officers ensured it was far from boring.

Constant drills ensured every soldier could use their Rifles with impressive accuracy, pushing the limits of what the weapon was capable of. Training sessions forced everyone to be well versed in melee, even without the assistance of the System. Continuous routines were pushed, creating well-oiled Cannon-crews that seamlessly loaded, aimed, and fired, over and over again for hours if necessary.

And finally, mock engagements prepared the soldiers for various ways the Demons might attack, constantly updated from new information gathered from the front.

While Yexam could not compare the two, he suspected that while the soldiers in the cities had practical experience, the soldiers on the beach were more skilled due to the constant training and exercises.

Stationed in the second trench of the first set, Yexam stood at his post, looking out over the trench towards the ocean. His friends sat behind and below him at a wooden box they turned into a makeshift table, playing a card game.

He had never even seen the ocean before the war began. As the son of a cobbler in the city, he was content with taking over the family business when his father retired. His family owned the house they lived in, had very little debt they could pay off without much hassle, business was good and steady, he even had a girl he had been courting.

He would have been fine with living his entire life in the capital, never having stepped foot outside it except for the occasional hunting trip with his friends. Yet now, he had spent the last almost three years living at the beach, seeing the ocean every day, hearing it all the time.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

It was during this time that he came to appreciate the beauty the ocean was capable of, despite the monstrosities it hid beneath its gentle waves. During one of the very rare and short leaves he had earned over the years, he had even dared to step foot in it and even swim a little. That short five minute failure of an attempt still made him the best swimmer in his Unit.

The sound of the ocean was ever present. At first it had been annoying, but he had quickly grown accustomed to it, able to drone it out without effort.

It was because of this attunement that he heard something wrong before he saw it.

Nothing changed, the waves still crashed softly into the sand two hundred yards away, his System Enhanced eyes able to see that distance clearly. There was nothing on the horizon, and the skies did not even have a single cloud. By all accounts, it was a beautiful spring day.

So it baffled him as to why the hair on the back of his neck rose and prickled, why his grip on his Rifle tightened, why his breathing grew shallow.

"Hey Yexam, you doing alright? Need a break?" One of his friends asked, noticing the subtle changes in his friend.

It had to be nothing. There had been countless false alarms before, each had forced everyone scrambling for their weapons and armor. One such false alarm still had its crier glared at nearly a month later. He did not want to be one such victim, but as he realized that he would also prefer to be glared at than dead.

"Does anything feel weird to you?" Yexam asked through teeth.

His friend laughed, "Uh, yeah? Don't tell me you want to be the next butt of every joke?"

Yexam's eyes widened, he raised his Rifle, "This isn't a false alarm. Demons in the water!" He shouted.

Blue-skinned Devils crawled up onto the beach, water and seaweed dripping from their bodies. Their eyes were large, black, and beady, with no irises. Dressed only in tight shorts with a small round buckler and short sword tied to their back with a simple rope.

Dozens were already on the beaches, quickly untying their weapons. And more crawled out of the water every second. In moments, the first Devils were charging up the sand towards the first trench.

Alarm bells rung out before they stepped more than a dozen feet from the water's edge. Not even five seconds later, stone bullets sped through the air, pummeling the sand and those on it.

"Told you!" Yexam yelled over the noise of the Rifles firing to his friend standing next to him.

His friend growled, "If we survive this, I'll buy the first round. Happy?"

"Better!"

Dozens of the Devils were dead in just the first few minutes, quickly reaching the hundreds, yet still they came.

Black dots lined the horizon.

Yexam took a moment to grab his squad's spyglass and look through it. He suspected he would have preferred not knowing.

The dots were boats, each one the size of the rarely used War Galley, capable of transporting hundreds of soldiers, and each one somehow capable of cutting through the water like a blade, moving faster than any wind powered vessel.

As he looked, he saw a faint cloud lift off the boats. He realized it was a swarm of Flying Argalon, just like the reports said.

"The swimmers are a distraction!" Yexam exclaimed, more to himself than anyone else, "Stay here, keep firing! I have to report this!"

His squadmates did not bother to argue.

He grabbed his Rifle, as it had been long engrained in him to never go anywhere without it, and bolted for the transit trench.

As he ran, he passed dozens of soldiers up on the trench berm, firing down at the swimmers.

The transit trench was thin, only large enough for two men to go down side by side, and only if they both turned slightly when passing. And it was full of people moving gear and supplies to the back and forth. Nonessential items were removed from the forward trenches while items essential for the continued defense of the trenches were moved forward.

He did not have time for this.

"Make a hole!" Yexam screamed at the top of his lungs.

They obeyed, regardless of their rank, all moving to one side or another.

Yexam ran through, thankful as people saw who had given the order and began moving all to one side, giving him a clear shot to the third trench.

The third trench, out of Rifle range, stood at attention at their berm, even as their bunkers began to fire their massive Cannons.

Yexam repeated his command and soon made it to the bunkers. He barged through the central one, nearly running into a Captain.

"Major Kelan! They are coming!"

The Major, the commanding officer of the first set, turned to look that the man who had barged into his bunker and rolled his eyes, "Obviously. Remove him."

Two guards stepped forward, motioning in an attempt to escort Yexam out rather than with force.

"No sir! There are boats coming over the horizon, so many I couldn't count them and faster than any boat I have seen, and Flyers too!"

The Major turned back to the man with furrowed brows, "Glass!" He commanded to the bunker.

A second later, his spyglass was in his hand. He turned back to the ocean and looked through.

"Damn! And here I was hoping this would just be a probing attack and they would realize its not worth the effort. This is the real deal boys! Private, get to the anti-air Cannons and have them prep. You, Corporal…"

"Yexam, sir!"

"Corporal Yexam, get to the first trench and have them set their pikes, then get back to your squad."

Yexam stood at attention and saluted, "Yes sir!"

Yexam sprinted out of the bunker. The Major looked out of the bare window, watching the young man, already fifteen feet below him, rush past the line of bunkers and back towards the beach.

"Lieutenant, get to Central in the rear and tell them what the boy just said. No doubt they are also thinking this is a simple probing attack. Dissuade them of that notion."

"Yes, sir!"

The Major looked up at the sky, "And it was such a beautiful day too."