Chapter 126: Blood Bath Pt. 1

Chandea, Year of Severus, 15, I.R., the 48th day of Fall, Arenfall

------------------------------------

"Get out of there!" Commander Crovar shouted. "You! Use your rune…arrggghhh—" The old Commander swung his sword on the monster rushing towards him.

The Commander's falcion simply bounced from the monster's skin as if it was a drum. The old Commander was surprised at the monster's invincibility, that he didn't notice the monster had already grabbed his right arm. Commander Crovar attempted to use one of his quick magic spells but before he could, he was slammed hard on the ground.

Orphella saw it from a distance but didn't care to help the cruel Commander. She was too preoccupied in finding her comrades and in keeping herself alive. The gruesome monsters came out of nowhere after one of the knights entered the way on the right. It was moments after that they saw him running back towards them, before being caught by the grotesque monster and torn in half.

All of the sudden, their worst fears came true. These monsters were different from the Obscurii that they had encountered before. These ones were big and burly creatures, with long arms and a hairy body. The grotesque feature of this monster was that it didn't have a head instead, it had a gaping mouth where its neck should've been. It walked upright with its body hunching forward. It also made a distinct clicking sound from its teeth constantly colliding with each other.

Orphella noticed how adept they moved in any form of lighting. They didn't fear the light coming from the light runes and even coming from the Orkamuus. These massive creatures caused confusion and chaos to the squads. They tore every single man they could find, and with the weapons not able to scratch them the slightest, it was an easy fight on the monsters' favor.

The formation scrambled as the knights fumbled on their way out of the tunnel. There were only a few good men left standing and fighting the unstoppable monsters.

Orphella looked for her comrades once again. But the dwarf and the beastman was still not on sight. She felt uneasy and anxious as she looked for them over the sea of chaos surrounding them.

Suddenly one of the headless monsters came rushing towards her from the darkness. She quickly moved away from the incoming fury of claws and was able to arm her bow just as she dodged. With a single breath, Orphella released the arrow from her bow; a small air vortex formed at the tip of the arrow coated the projectile with a dense air casing that exploded after it hit the monster's thick hide.The monster was thrown away from the explosion and its hand was caught by the Orkamuu's flaming sickle.

"WARGRGGRGRGRHHHHH!" The monster let out its terrible cry as Wahakim was finally able to slice off an arm off of it. The flames from the stump of its arm slowly spread all over its body.

The monster leapt away from the carnage, but Orphella was quick to react. She aimed directly at the monster while simultaneously dodging the attacks coming from its kin. The monster was almost out of her sight, but she was confident about her shooting ability. She released her arrow just as she pirouetted from another tackling monster and hit her target almost 200 hundred paces away from her.

The already flaming monster exploded as the arrow hit it dead center on its back. The sound of the explosion echoed throughout the cave but it didn't seem to deter its kin, not one bit.

Orphella did her best to fight them off. Their overwhelming strength was matched by her speed and marksmanship. She took down a few more of the beasts, making them explode from the impact of her high-level wind magic.

Some of the squads were able to push them back too, the knights were slowly gaining momentum and used their magic abilities to counter the monsters' brute force. Wahakim and the surviving auxillarum lit them on fire with his burning sickles while the old Commander, miraculously made it out of the first monster's grip, was now using his advance water magic to skewer and slice the monsters down.

Orphella looked for a higher viewpoint for her to snipe. She still couldn't see any signs of the dwarf nor the beastman and even though she was worried about them, she knew this wasn't the right time to get preoccupied with other things.

She couldn't find a spot for her to conveniently snipe at them, and it was for the better. Those monsters can climb up walls and she might doom herself if she did it. She counted the remaining arrows she had and got 20 arrows left.

Orphella looked at the situation and saw the incoming mob of monsters gushing out from the paths in front of her. The scene looked like a nightmare as the nameless beasts were now pushing them back against the corner. No amount of magic and skill could overcome the overwhelming numbers of the raging monsters.

She saw one of the knights mercilessly eaten alive by the ravenous beasts. They ganged up on him and ate him in his armor leaving nothing but a pool of blood. Another knight was crushed with so much force his head popped off his body. They hurriedly retreated for the entrance, but by the time they arrived there, it was back to being a white stone wall.

They were cornered. One of the knights suddenly grabbed her by the hair and dragged her over to the wall.

"Draw, that…that...sign, bitch!" The knight pointed his blade at her. "I said, draw! You fucken—" Suddenly, a huge hand grabbed the knight by the head and smashed it on the wall.

Orphella looked up and to her surprise saw a very dissatisfied Commander Crovar.

"Coward." He said to the bloodied knight. "You deserve to be eaten there!" He took the unconscious knight by his collar, and with all his might, flung him towards the monsters.

The beasts happily welcomed them in their arms and caused a little moment of distraction for the squad to plan their exit, as the beasts fought over the fodder.

"Make it quick!" Commander Crovar whispered to her. "Open up the wall, we need to get back to the other side." He added.

Orphella nodded and hurriedly drew the symbols. Unfortunately, it wouldn't activate. It seemed like the key she knew was only good for entering the place, but never going out. She scribbled it once again, but it wasn't working!

"What's going on?!" Commander Crovar asked her.

She shook her head and pointed on the wall, hoping the Commander understood what she was trying to say.

It only took a moment for Commander Crovar to realized what she meant. The old Commander laughed crazily as he knew, this might just be their end.  The Commander grinned at her as he punched the white wall.

"Gods darn it!" He exclaimed as he looked at the few survivors holding the defensive line. "Can you still fight?" He asked her directly.

The elf nodded and pointed at her arrows and daggers. Commander Crovar smiled at her, "Ironically, you'll die for the Principalia's case, and not of your race's." He raised his falcion and screamed at the top of his voice. "For the Principalia! For Prince Arterius!"

The old man along with his knights jumped over the defensive line and started to hack the monsters in a frenzy. Orphella was shock to see the desperation of the Commander Crovar, but instead of just watching them get their comeuppance, she armed her bow and aimed for the beasts.

Orphella still had an ample of exousia left in her. She concentrated on her magic and infused it on her arrows. She let loose of her arrows and pierced every single monster she saw. Her wind-based enchantment magic was very effective against the headless monsters, they exploded upon each impact. Some of her arrows pierced through lines of the monsters, even blasting them off the front.

After emptying all of the arrows she had, Orphella was still unable to scratch the number of monsters that was now overwhelming their defenses. The Orkamuus tried their best to use their magic but even, they were starting to get drained. The knights were already using their reserved runes, which means they only have a few of their mana left. Even Commander Crovar and his men were slowly being overpowered by the sheer numbers of the monsters they had to face. The Commander's water magic was starting to dwindle with each passing moment.

Orphella knew that it was the end for all of them. She was no longer able to find her comrades in the battlefield. The thought of them being already dead was dawning on her already. Now she was slowly accepting that fact. She knew she would follow them soon, but she didn't want to die without a fight.

Just like what she did with Obscurii, she started to use the chant. Shouting the words outloud on her head, she pleaded with her goddess to save her once again.

"Braet. Luxae. Oyue. (Bright Light Oyue)" she called out, but unfortunately, there was no answer.

Orphella couldn't feel any surge of power like what happened before when she used it for the very first time.

"Braet. Luxae. Oyue. (Bright Light Oyue)" She called out once again, but nothing was happening.

Orphella had lost too much exouisa on her, that she could no longer do it. She took a deep breath and made a sad smile. It looked like this was the end for them.

She took out her dagger and ran towards the monsters just like what Commander Crovar did, but before she could, a sudden explosion rocked the entire cave. And for the first time, the monsters finally halted.

Out of nowhere a pillar of flame emerged from the distance and burned most of the monsters at the farthest back. The pillar of flame suddenly duplicated itself and began to move forward, burning everything in its wake.

Orphella took a deep breath and smiled as the flames slowly engulfed the damned monsters. She knew they still have a winning chance.