Chapter 352: Monster Mash
It had been a long, long time since Beatrice had thought these words to herself, but it seems that the old warrior's lived long enough to experience a moment of deja vu from her younger days.
I think there might be too many monsters around here.
With all of the adrenaline and panic it was difficult to be sure just how long Beatrice and the other Challengers had been fighting, but at a guess the woman would put it at twenty minutes. At first it hadn't been so bad - giant monsters, mostly reptilian, had come down the mountain path one at a time and engaged the adventurers they found waiting there. The monsters were floor guardians, so they weren't pushovers, but there were a couple dozen Challengers who had been waiting for their turn at the dungeon and initially the odds had been well in their favor.
That phase lasted for about five minutes.
Part of it was the Initiates and less-bold Challengers who had quickly decided to retreat the rest of the way down the mountainside. Beatrice hardly blamed them for it, in fact it was probably a wise decision for the weaker members of the gathering to make. It would be a bad idea for all of them to flee, however, as that would allow the monsters to pick off stragglers and the weak one at a time, presumably until eventually reaching the small village at the foot of the mountain. Then there'd be civilian casualties to worry about, and...well, best to make a stand here and prevent that if at all possible.
Which is easier said than done. The flying beast that Tassa had spotted earlier had already flown off somewhere, and Beatrice spares a brief moment to worry that it may be making a meal of fleeing Initiates despite their retreat.
Then the monsters started coming in twos and threes. After the initial casualties and the escape of the younger adventurers, there were perhaps twenty more-experienced men and women left holding the line. Mostly orcs and minotaurs, but driders, elves, dwarves and humans were also in attendance. A few less of those every few minutes, unfortunately. Further injuries and deaths had begun to build up, and at twenty minutes into the battle Beatrice counts perhaps fourteen people still on their feet and fighting.
The warrior is broken from her distraction however when her sword plunges into the chest of a towering gray-scaled draconic, only for it to have no apparent effect. A backhanded blow tosses the woman aside, her sword left behind, and only a quick catch by Janey prevents Beatrice from risking a sudden plummet down the rocky mountain. "Beatie! That one's an undead-variant draconic! You're probably not gonna be able to stab it to death!"
"Gcckk, fine! Least I've still got other tricks up my sleeves - and I need to get my damn sword back, too." As the minotaur healer places Beatrice back onto her feet the woman charges up the magical ink inscribed into her right arm, and after a few moments a lance of flame bathes the monster's skull. To little effect, sadly.
"Draconic! I said it was a draconic! That means fireproof! Try another trick!"
Beatrice shakes her head, angry at herself. She's the goddamn Dragon Slayer, she should know better than to make such basic mistakes. Despite all her time spent in dungeons, perhaps she's still losing her touch... That thought fades quickly though as the warrior refocuses, and a moment later a blast of lightning from her left hand strikes the monster right between the eyes. This time its resistances seem far less effective, and its eyeballs pop from the attack...although the undead creature still doesn't quite fall.
Janey grunts as she quickly turns her attention to a wounded dwarf, doing her best to get him back on his feet. "Try that metal mode spell of yours! Doesn't it make you a hells of a lot tougher!?"
"Yeah! Sure!" The human shouts back as she reverts back to her more reliable tricks - an arsenal of enchanted gear kept in her storage rings. With a flick of her fingers a wand appears in her hand, and as it bathes the rampant guardian in light the monster slowly dissolves into ash and cinders. "It's so strong it drains my mana reserves in like five minutes! Which, if you've noticed, is a much shorter time than this fight has been lasting!"
When the undead finally falls Beatrice wastes no time in recovering her blade, but any good cheer she might feel is dampened as Tassa comes to her side, a grim look on her face. "The Mountain Scout that climbed up to keep an eye on things says there's another three guardians on the way down the path. And we've still got - " Tassa pauses to inspect the current battle, which involves a snake-woman with six blades and a giant scorpion with two long tails. "Two guardians that we're still dealing with! That's five guardians at once for barely over a dozen people!"
"Glad to see you can still do basic math while in the middle of a fight, Tassa." Beatrice grins with a confidence she doesn't quite feel. "Any battle strategies in mind?"
"Yes!" Tassa grits her teeth as she responds. "We retreat! The path is barely a chokepoint, most of them can climb right down over the rock if they need to! This place isn't defensible against those kinds of numbers! Hells, at any moment a raid-strength guardian could appear for all we know, and that'd be stronger than all of us on its own!"
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Beatrice glances back at the path leading down the mountain, afraid to admit that Tassa might be right. By her count the Challengers had felled...perhaps a dozen monsters so far? Except they had mostly been identified as easy-tier guardians, meaning the fights will only be getting more difficult as time goes on. There only seems to be a few Masters in the crowd and no other Supreme-tier Challengers as far as Beatrice can tell..which means that a single hard-tier guardian could easily run roughshod over their entire defense.
Still...Beatrice is experienced enough to know that most of a battle's casualties occur during the rout. Of the fourteen surviving adventurers, how many will actually make it to the bottom if they turn their backs now? The slayer feels confident enough in her own survivability, and she can probably keep an eye on Tassa and Janey...but that's about as far as she'd push it. Most of them will probably die whether they stand or run. With that in mind, a plan begins to form.
"Okay...okay, listen up. You see that drider guy with two wands, and that minotaur with the shield and greatsword? Those two look like Masters to me. Me and the two of them will set up a rearguard while the rest of you start heading down the mountain. I'll pop my silverform, which should buy us at least a minute or two, and then we'll follow you down, yeah?"
Tassa's eyes grow wide. "Are you mad!? Three of you against five guardians at once? Beatrice, I will agree that you are one of the most talented swordswomen I have ever seen, but this is insane!"
"No kidding, but this entire situation is insane! It's got the best odds of the most people surviving - now, go tell that drider wizard the plan, and I'll get together with the minotaur. Then when I tell you, everyone else needs to start running!"
Tassa grits her teeth, and as she hesitates another Advanced-tier human takes a bad wound on his arm from the lamia guardian. "...Fine! But when you - " Whatever the woman was about to say, it's interrupted by a loud orcish warcry coming from their rear. As the pair turn they spot a middle-aged orc charging up the path, with a pair of long daggers in his hands and a dozen men and women following closely behind him. While the Valleylands Army doesn't use much in the way of uniforms, their similar equipment and tight formation indicates that the band is a group of soldiers. As she stares at the orc in the lead, Tassa's jaw drops.
"Is that..."
Before she can finish her question, the commander in question slams into the frontline along with his troops. "Hold the line! Squad Banshee, take the scorpion! Squad Centaur, prepare ranged attacks for the incoming monsters! Squad Angel, with me on the lamia!" The tired and wounded Challengers are more than happy to take a step back and let the reinforcements take their place, and within moments the tide of the battle has turned. The soldiers don't appear to be veterans - probably mostly Initiates and Advanced-tier, by Beatrice's reckoning. Even so their numbers, training, and relative freshness more than make up for their greenness, and the rampant guardians are soon on the back foot - or back scales, in the case of the snake woman.
Still, it's the commander in particular who manages to catch Beatrice's attention the most. The man is perhaps around Beatrice's age or a few years older, with streaks of gray running through his hair, yet he's clearly the most powerful member of the reinforcements and stronger than most of the Challengers besides. His weapons strike her as a little odd for the man, however - the twin daggers seem a bit small for his thick fingers, and there's a strange design on their hilt that reminds Beatrice of insects for some reason.
Their effectiveness soon becomes plain, however. Although the lamia's six blades provide quite a bit of defense, the orc is nimble enough to slash at several of her wrists each time that she attempts to go on the offensive. Although the wounds initially seem slight, the woman's veins quickly turn a dark green around each of the cuts, and within seconds each wounded hand becomes too weak to hold a sword. After perhaps half a minute of this the orc is able to strike at the monster's torso directly, and the poison-like effect is far more effective when implanted fully into her vital organs. Another soldier actually finishes the lamia off with a blow to her neck, but the commander is quick to look for a new target - and notices Beatrice and Tassa standing nearby. To Beatrice's surprise, it's Tassa who he addresses first.
"Tassa!? What odd luck to find you here today! Are you unharmed?"
The half-minotaur seems too dazed too respond, so Beatrice prods her with a question of her own. "Tassa? You, ah...know this soldier?"
Swallowing, Tassa regains her composure and nods. "I - yes, of course. This is Thornwoods Commando Darrosh of Tash'Narc. He's, ah...a family friend. And to answer your question, sir, yes, I am unharmed."
Darrosh grins, both at the answer and at the sight of his soldiers forming a solid line of defense where the lamia and scorpion once stood. "Excellent! It's lucky I was nearby, I was organizing a training camp just outside the village when we heard the shouting - and saw a gods-damned wyvern attacking the Challengers! We took care of it but didn't take the time to ask questions - can either of you explain what in the thirty heavens is going on up here!?"
Given that Tassa still looks a little stunned, Beatrice takes charge of communicating the situation. "From the looks of it, a team that was either just going into the dungeon or coming out of it got massacred by some of the dungeon guardians. After that it was like the dungeon started spitting out every floor guardian it has at us! I think we've killed most of the ones from the higher floors, although we've seen a few middle ones, and I'm guessing the ones coming down now are about that level as well. We were just discussing attempting a fighting retreat, but with your help I think our odds look much better."
"I certainly hope so!" Darrosh laughs before giving Beatrice another look. "I don't suppose I could know your name, Challenger? You look like a competent sort, more than most around here at the moment, at least."
"Might be the case, honestly. Name's Beatrice, the Monster Slayer. Ah, I'm a Steelfist Vanguard, by class."
"Beatrice, you say?" The man eyes her again. "...I might be looking to have another conversation with you and Tassa when this battle is through. But for now - mind lending me and my troops a hand with this next wave?"
"What? Me, turn down a chance to fight deadly beasts?" Beatrice's grin outshines his own. "Wouldn't dream of it."