The green one screamed as he tried to swing the glaive at her. She stepped into the weapon’s arc, one arm raised to block the swing. The bone armor growing out of her forearm caught the pole of the weapon, pushing it even further off target. She flipped the grip on her other dagger and activating power thrust, stabbing it into his stomach. He was wearing armor, but the xatherite enhanced strike parted the leather like a hot knife in butter. She only stopped when the blade cracked against his vertebrae, severing the nerves and causing him to fall to the ground, the lower half of his body no longer connected to his brain.
His bigger than life anime eyes went even wider and blood came out of his mouth as he tried to open it. Shelly flipped off him, rolling away just in case he still had some fight in him. She came up in a combat pose and smiled down at the dying gnome. “Fucking gnome horde comes to my town? Kills my boyfriend and expects me to just take it in stride?”
She kicked the glaive away from him, even though his hands were more focused on trying to keep his innards inside him. She circled around to the side, then kicked his torso, driving the blade deeper inside him. She then activated blade call and all her weapons returned to their sheaths, sparkling clean. “Now I’d really like to just let you bleed out, but there’s a chance you have a xatherite behind those big fucking eyes. So, sadly, this is going to be faster than I’d like. She pushed her foot against his windpipe and slowly pressed down.
“You motherfuckers invaded the wrong goddamn town.” The dying gnome’s hands feebly tried to push Shelly’s leg away, but he was powerless. The celery crunch of his windpipe breaking was enough, and she turned away from him to look at the other two. “Oh look, your friend already gave me some. Guess that means you won’t have any on you and I can let you die slowly!” She touched the red crystal that had grown between the eyes of the pink haired gnome. The street, littered with green blood and viscera, glowed red briefly and she smiled as the notification blinked into reality in the corner of her vision. With a shrug, she left the gnome to slowly suffocate, then activated shadow of death and disappeared into the darkening gloom.
The fog was rolling in and she had plenty of hunting time left before the sun came up. She wouldn’t rest until she had killed every single one of the green horde.
I-70 West of Edwards, Colorado
Erik looked down the ridge to where he could see a town. It had been called Edwards a week ago, but there probably wasn’t anyone still alive down there. Still, he had to check. His armor kept him warm as it took on a strangely reflective quality from the snow around him. It was still early April in Colorado, and this late in the day it was getting back down to the mid 40’s. He looked behind him at the nineteen people he had managed to convince to follow him.
All of them had been through a harrowing six day. He frowned. At this rate, he wouldn’t make Denver for months. Advent had started while he was overnighting in Gypsum just a few miles to the west of here along I-70, and he was grateful that God had given him the xatherite he needed to save as many people as he had, but he’d left far too many graves along the trail. He gestured everyone forward, his hand resting on the handle of his war hammer.
Cutting a far more imposing figure than the rest of the group, Erik was encased in his conjured armor. It resembled that of the old knight’s templar but wasn’t anywhere near as heavy as their plate mail had been. He could barely feel its weight and it didn’t restrict his movement at all. It still did a fine job at stopping attacks though. The massive demon possessed bears, rabbits, elk, and wolves that had attacked the weary travelers had more than tested its worth.
Picking up the heavy war hammer, whose head glowed with an inner light, and throwing it over one shoulder, he began to walk down the road to Edwards. His people followed him. The three young children he had managed to save that first day were riding his summoned charger. The xatherite he used to summon it was a godsent reward he had received after he killed the biggest bear he’d ever seen. He glanced back at the kids and waved, though they didn’t respond. He didn’t expect them to. He hadn’t been quite quick enough to save their parents from the wolves, and none of the three had said a word since.
The rest of the group was just as ragtag. Most of them were young, under 20, and all had lost someone they loved. The only one older than 25 was a former diner waitress who had taken to caring for the kids after he’d pulled her out of the burned remnants of her diner back in Eagle three days ago.
It was only a couple miles to Edwards, but they probably wouldn’t make it until midday tomorrow, so he’d have to have Ross dig them another cave to sleep in for the night. Realizing that light of faith’s cooldown was probably up, he activated that prayer, and yellow light surrounded all twenty of them. The shivering stopped immediately, and everyone picked up the pace, wanting to make as much distance as they could while the buff was in place.
They made it halfway down the hill before they heard the howling. It originated from further down the road, but Erik immediately swung his hammer up, “Defensive positions!” It was a well-practiced maneuver at this point. Ross dug a pit and they began putting all the unawakened children into it. Then he shifted the earth around them, creating a slope as steep as his powers would allow. Meanwhile Rose used her xatherite to create long forks along the top of the ridge, and Ross buried them until just their razor-sharp tines were visible.
Erik commanded the horse to come to him as soon as the children were off it. At 21 hands tall, it was a massive beast. Without the strength enhancement of his armor, he doubted he would have even been able to mount the charger. He patted the beast’s flank to comfort it. It was a worthless gesture as the conjured horse had no feelings, but it felt right to him. He watched their preparations as he circled the fortification. As he circled, he thanked God that they had the right abilities and the people to keep so many alive, despite the growing difficulty in doing so.
When the entire bulwark had been created, he nodded to Rose and Ross, then tilted his visor down and hefted the hammer into a readied combat position as he nudged the charger forward. The wolves would be here any moment now; it never took long. He took this chance to pray, his deep voice reverberating throughout the canyon, echoing into the wilderness around him.
“O Lord, we ask for a boundless confidence and trust in Your divine mercy,
and the courage to accept the crosses and sufferings,
which bring immense goodness to our souls and that of Your Church.”
The wolves appeared before he could finish the prayer, but he merely raised his hammer. The light within its head glowed brighter as he activated his divine light xatherite. It was his only red skill, and the hammer flashed red, causing the wolves to cry out as they were blinded by the Lord’s grace. He motioned the charger forward, and shouted, “For God and Freedom!”
With the battle joined, the charger used its heavy hooves to crush wolves while he swung the war hammer with far more ease than the heavy weapon should have allowed. The wolves did manage to pull the horse to the ground, but it disappeared in a blink of blue light as Erik jumped from its back. He sent two wolves flying with the impact of his landing, managing to keep his feet. He began swinging the hammer around him in wide arcs while the wolves tried to nip at him, but aside from the force and weight of their attacks throwing him off balance occasionally, they couldn’t do any damage to his holy armor.
Nine wolves were dead from the combination of his hammer and the charger before he managed to kill the alpha, the hammer connecting solidly with its head sending brain matter flying. The remaining five wolves turned and fled, their sense of self-preservation reasserting itself over the Satanic corruption that had caused them to show such growth and aggression.