The Autocraft Alchemist

A line of heavily armored men and women stood on the rubble before the barricade. Every so often someone would cast a spell or fire an arrow which would be blocked by the red energy of the ratter's shield. The line of elite ratters standing in front of the barricade bared their teeth and would slam their weapons together at times. Almost as if they were taunting the humans who would dare try to close the breach.

The next row behind the tanks Richard had heard the old timers call spears. Only it seemed to be just anyone who had a reach weapon. He could not only see spears, but also halberds, bardiches, and other polearm like weapons. Bringing up the rear was the final line, which consisted of two tanks on each end with melee fighters in the middle.

There was no sign or signal given and out of nowhere the tank row charged all at once. The elite ratters standing before the barricade barely had time to react before they were impacted by the shield wall that had sprung out of nowhere and leapt up the rubble.

The spears followed closely behind and started to stab past the tanks, harrying and hindering the elites as they were pushed back. Between the two lines they were able to push the elites all the way to the barricade and there was a resounding crash as the elites were pinned up against it.

Once the elites were pinned the spears found flesh more often than not. While the elites's weapons glanced against the heavy armor of the tanks. The ratters behind the barricade started climbing up and over. Only before they could pour out of cover there was a loud shout, "Flash!" and Richard blocked his eyes with his forearm. A horrid cacophony of squeaks and hisses rose from the ratters. From the noise it sounded like there were many more than what Richard had expected.

With the ratters disabled the melee line jumped the barricade and disappeared from view. He caught a glimpse of his father vaulting into combat but then lost him behind the barricade. Meanwhile the noises of battle could be heard and Richard hoped that his potion could carry them to a win with only a few casualties.

As they continued to fight beyond the wall, wounded old timers would filter back for healing. One of those ended being his father and Richard raced forward to meet him only to be waved away. There were several small cuts on his arms and he was missing his short spear. "The wood was too brittle, hah. Probably should have oiled it a decade ago." Otherwise he seemed to be alright.

"That will be the end of that," his father said as they stood on the rubble and looked towards the empty barricade. "That potion was a good thing to have here today. Though I wonder why you had such a thing on you in the first place?" The question was left in the air for a moment before his father continued, "We'll need to make sure that our breach team is safe from being flanked." There was a short horn blast followed by shouts of ratters incoming. When Richard turned to look he found another group of ratters carrying bags were approaching the breach from the east.

His father double backed over the rubble and stooped down to pick up one of the weapons that the elite ratters had used. It was a long grey piece of twisted metal that lightly shone in the lights from the walls. There was a point at one end and some leather wrapped around the other. His father whistled and said, "This is way too nice for a ratter to have. Hell, with a proper handle it would be too nice for me to have. Hey! Another one!" He picked up a second one that was a little shorter.

"What is it?" Richard asked.

"Unicorn horn," he said and started towards the new group of ratters. "Now let's welcome our new friends." Richard stared after him for a moment before he shook his head and started jogging to catch up.

What followed was more combat, it was less harried as the groups of ratters were smaller and only trickled in. It seemed like they couldn't fathom the fact that they had already lost the war. And group after group walked to their deaths calling for reinforcements that never arrived.

It was less than pleasant. And Richard found new respect within himself for the old timers and what they had done for the world. They were fighting like that before he was even born. Carving out a new space for humans on their planet ruined by the breaks. He would need to see if he could find some information about them. Either that or ask his father about it.

Though that was something best left for a day after the breach was fully dealt with.

***

Emily sat on the side of the road with her party. "We're all sorts of beat up, huh?" she asked. Combat in the dungeons had been nothing like fighting against the ratters. They were an unending swarm, uncaring and unperturbed when one of them died. Ever reaching for the foe in front of them until they were struck down. She sighed and shook her head.

There were still several members of the group that saved them milling around. Either clearing the ratter bodies off of the road or keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings. They all looked like they should have been retired. And were equipped with a mishmash of weapons and armor while some of them carried horns.

"Yah. I'll agree with that," Art said. He was laying down on the grass boulevard. After he had been healed they had retreated there to get some rest. "Don't think that I want to go through that again. Though ignoring all that pain I now feel great. What was in that potion? Might just start taking one of those in the morning instead of coffee."

"It was a Soul Purifying one. Something special to deal with the curses. I don't think that it's a good idea to just pop one like that…"

Janice once again got to her feet and took a step forward. Then she turned around and sat down again. She rocked back and forth while she hugged her legs. "Do you think it's true?" she finally asked.

Pao looked at her and shook his head. "We don't know what you're talking about."

"You mean you don't know?" Emily and Pao just gave her a blank stare while Art propped himself up on his elbows to stare at her as well. "Alright. Okay. You guys need to read up on some underground history sometime."

"Why would we even know anything about that? I mean what even is underground history?" Art asked. Emily swatted him and pushed him back down. "Alright, okay, fine," he said and tried to and failed to push her hands away.

Janice's energy went through the roof and she looked like a kid who had just been asked what their favorite type of candy was. "Okay. So you know how after the break the internet went down? Everything that happened during those years was only talked about afterwards and there are few written records. History from that time is known underground history, since it was buried by the government when they finally got some semblance of power again. They didn't like the fact that the reason we all still lived was due to the people themselves, and not the government. So it's underground see? Anyways-"

"Janice," Emily said. But she wasn't listening and continued to run her mouth a kilometer a second. "Janice shut up for a moment. And just get to the point."

Janice snapped out of her tale and blinked. "Just the point? Where is the fun in that? Okay, okay alright. Don't look at me like that," she said and brought her shield up between her and Emily.

"The. Point."

"Fine. The world went bad. People stood up. People put away. Long time passed. These people," Janice gestured at the old timers still within view, "are those who stood up."

"What the hell was the point of saying it that briefly," Art said and kicked a leg into the air.

"You didn't see how she was looking at me!"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Emily pinched the bridge of her nose. "So this group of old folks, the ones with the horns, were one of the founding clans?"

"Wait? How did you know about the founding clans? You said that you didn't know- fine."

"Which one is it," Emily asked.

"I think that it's… The Mourning Horn."

"Morning? So like the horn that plays at sunrise or breakfast?" Art asked.

"No," Emily said and stood. "It's what you do at a funeral. The Mourning Horn was one of the largest and strongest clans. Even I've heard about it and I only brushed against the underground history in the past. If they hadn't backed down from the government then we would be living in a very different country today."

"Right! It would be like the country or really city states that exist on the other side of the dragon wastes. They are all warrior kings and tyrants ruling those that follow them with strength and violence. Though it's said that due to the politics in use that the people don't mind so much. But that probably had to do with the caste system where the top is happy, while the bottom suffers. There isn't a lot of information known about the city states, just what can be cobbled together by those that escape. I'll stop now." Janice raised her shield between her and Emily again.

Emily shook her head. It was bad enough that the ratters had taken down the wall. And now they were dealing with a long dead clan that had appeared from nowhere? The government might not like it. But what could they do? From what she saw most of the members were higher level than herself.

She turned and kicked Art in his leather leg armor. "Hey! What the hell?"

"Get up, you've rested enough. We'll have Bearing take a look at you and confirm that you're healed. We'll need to meet up with the rest of the guild in a moment."

A small regiment of explorers in shining armor appeared down the road to the south. They were half walking half jogging and soon came close enough for Emily to make out some more detail. The people in the front had seen combat, their armor was dinged and dirty with the blood of the ratters. At their appearance Emily let out a sigh. While it had taken some time, reinforcements had appeared.

Which should have been a good thing. But when there was another force present there could be some tensions. Emily didn't bother seeing if the others followed her or not, and she broke into a jog. If she could somehow manage, it was better to head off any problems with the clan before they appeared.

***

It took Richard a few more combats to get used to the spear. And he found that while it seemed to do more damage, it also got blood everywhere. He was able to avoid most of the splatter but his new dress shirt was already ruined. Even more so due to the claws that had glanced across his ribs. The ratters could sometimes display a burst of speed that had caught him unawares the first time.

There seemed to be a commotion at the breach when other forces appeared. He thought that he saw Emily with a group that all wore silver looking armor. They dispersed rather quickly though, and he wondered what had been said?

A little while later a group of people in red and gold armor appeared. It matched with what Richard had heard about the Break Angels. They were the guild ranked just below the Sword Souls and from the rumors had quite the temper. It sounded like things were getting rather heated.

While Richard wasn't really able to hear what they were arguing about. The shouting was just loud enough to be heard. That was when the enforcers from the Dungeon Center Management department showed up. The conversation with the Break Angels didn't continue for another minute before the Angels went back the way that they came with a rather harried look about them.

At first Richard felt like it would be finally time to hand over the security of the breach. But what must have been the leader of the enforcer was bowing to the members of the clan. And they instead started handing out relief items like water and food.

It took him a moment to process everything that he had just witnessed. Just how powerful was his father's clan? All of the old timers were joking around and weren't taking things seriously. Yet they seemed to be some of the most powerful people that he had met. And from how it sounded they were all retired and just taking events as they came. He filed away another question that he would have to remember to ask his father.

When dawn finally crept over the walls Richard was ready for his bed. No, maybe a shower first. Yes, a shower. And then bed. His father had wandered off during the defense and Richard found him amongst the many grey hairs standing around and just chatting like they would at a bbq.

He needed to squeeze between a couple of the clan members in order to get close. "Dad, We should probably be getting back home," Richard said.

"Yeah. Brenda's going to be pissed at me," his father said. He added in several goodbyes along with some agreements to meet up later. And they set off for home.

"What do you think Mom is going to think?" Richard asked.

"Oh she already knows. I'm sure of it. 6th sense of hers and all that. Plus she would have heard the horns and known right away that we'd be getting into all sorts of trouble."

"How much does she know? Or did you only keep it from us?"

"Oh she knows everything. We met during the early days. She was a clan member too, just a non combatant. As for the why… Your mom wanted to keep you two safe. Part of that was thinking that the world was likewise finally safe and not…"

"Not dangerous."

"Something like that."

Once they walked past the houses damaged by the ratters people were out and about. And several families were milling around the sidewalk or on their lawns or driveways. Pointing towards the wall and having worried conversations. They probably should have still been inside… which probably made him a hypocrite considering that he left home to fight against the ratter invasion.

"What is the name of your clan?" Richard asked.

It took his father a moment to respond. "The Mourning Horns."

"They do sound like ones that would fit at a funeral. Was there a reason for the name?"

"So that we don't forget those that were lost. To remember them with every battle. And to drive fear into our enemies before we crush them. It was named with such thoughts in mind."

"It must have been a difficult time back then."

"Aye son. Aye it was."

***

"There is a clan here, they are the ones who saved us and dealt with most of the ratters," Emily said. She had been happy to see people that she knew and trusted. Even more so when she saw that the Raid Leader Daniel was the one at the front.

"A clan? They shouldn't be able to act given what I've heard about the agreement between them and the government… Unless." His head snapped towards the largest group of old timers and his eyes started to scan the ones that were in sight. "Do you know what the clan is called?" Daniel asked.

"Given the horns that they used to coordinate we believe that it is the Mourning Horn."

"Ugh. Damn it."

Emily was taken aback. Daniel was one of the stronger members of the Sword Souls. If he was intimidated by the clan then what could they do? Would he be able to keep his head and interact with them with respect? Or would his pride get the better of him? They couldn't afford to butt heads against such a force, even if they were all old men and women.

"Oh? Is that you Danny? Haha, I haven't seen you for a dog's age." The man who spoke was carrying a horn that appeared to be made out of monster materials. He wore a big smile on his face as he looked over Daniel.

"Uncle Gunther, please tell me that she isn't-"

"Oh yeah, I heard about you from Jackie the other day. Here let me get her for you," Gunther said. He raised his horn and blew into it. The sonorous sound resounded through Emily's bones and she shivered. What would it be like to be on the other side of more than one horn? To be facing off against this clan?

It didn't take a moment before a blurring figure launched themselves over the rubble and dead ratters. When they finally stopped Emily found that it was an old woman dressed in heavy armor that she would have found too heavy to wear herself. How was the old woman still standing?

"Gunther, what is wrong? I- hohoo, I see." A smile blossomed on the old woman's face when she saw Daniel. "What's this I hear about you being too busy to come for Thanksgiving Grandson of mine?"

"Hello Grandmother," Daniel said. He was avoiding eye contact with the old woman. "I told Father that I had a date. He should have passed that along."

"What? Why didn't you bring your date? I would have loved to meet with them. Silly grandson. If you had been here you would have had some ratters to fight. But now we've already cleaned most of them up." She reached forward and brought him into a hug. "On the other hand, we do need a hand cleaning up the battlefield. Your group will help right?" She showed him a bright smile.

Daniel looked around at the scores of bodies on the ground. The damage to the houses and the scattered bags of ratter loot. His shoulders slumped a little and he spoke, "Of course Grandmother."