Chapter 40：Good Times?

A whole week had passed: not that Stanis would know though, or even care if he did. His body was nothing but a plaything for these cruel monsters and their sadistic desires. His body was riddled with wounds, some light and healing such as his stabbed thigh from two days ago. Others were not so light, such as his whipped back, showing a battlefield of scars which hid underneath it fractured bones.

His esteemed torturer/ godly guard had decided a few days back that Stanis recoiled too much at the sound of the whip cracking the air, and had thus had fastened his hands into manacles which were tightly attached to the mudstone. This meant that his body was constantly leaning forwards, up and ready to receive a beating. Stanis had cried at first, but then his eye ducts had become too raw and now he was just too exhausted to cry. He still recoiled as the blades nipped at him and as the whip tore his skin, but no more than that as he no longer cared.

Sleep was nothing but a foreign aspect now, he was busy being beaten in the day by the tier-one and having his body sliced open in the night by the tier-two. If he was just a little bit more conscious, he would have realised that the tier-two had rarely come in the last few days. But he wasn't conscious and thus didn't realise this. Instead he was sleep-deprived, in agony and had no desire but to die…

****

Today was the day, the day where they would hand the destroyed Village on a silver platter to their higher-ups. The higher-ups were scheduled to come tomorrow since that was that day that the rules allowed Invader species' tier-threes to invade.

The tier-two Zelt mage, Ryr, rubbed its hands together, its slim claws creating resonating sounds as they clashed. It was excited and it knew it, as was every other Zelt. The Sun had just set, meaning that the Moon would be out in its full glory in a few hours: the best time to strike. It pointed around at the other tier-twos in turn.

"Rak, you hold the base. I'm leaving you with a few of the men. Spread them around our base and don't let a single thing in. You hear me?"

"Yesss Masster" replied Rak, who was one of the agility-based tier-twos.

"Kal, you lead half the force down the Mountain. They will spot you from afar anyway so make as much noise as possible and intimidate the Humans."

"Yargh" responded Kal, his voice thick and hoarse as he was one of the massive, strength-based tier-twos.

"Zak and Nal, you two will be coming with me. We go down the tunnels and wait till they turn their backs to us to strike."

Zak, the second agility based tier-two, and Nal, the second strength based tier-two, responded accordingly.

"Goood. Let's go."

The higher-ups had provided more of the lower tier Zelts as cannon fodder but no more tier-twos. Nevertheless, they already had more enough to wipe out the Human Village. The three tier-twos ran down the tunnels which went deep into the Mountain. The long-winding tunnels took a few hours to traverse and even longer to build, in fact their construction had been in play before the Humans had even raided the Zelt Camp.

Ryr reminisced about the moments he had spent with Human as he thought of their species. His cheeks slightly reddened as he realised he hadn't even asked the Human his name, although he quickly flicked that thought away as tomorrow the higher-ups would decide how to deal with a dark-spawn with high ties like that Human had. He grinned as he thought of how well he had trained that Human, one would think he was born to be a plaything from the way he now took beatings.

The hours quickly passed as all was set into motion, Kal loudly marching his troops down the Mountain as the other three waited behind Human lines.

It was about to get very fun, very fast!

****

Tanya checked her quiver once more as she hardened her heart. She, by no standard, enjoyed the transformation the world had made but she would be lying to say that it had been particularly hard on her. She had done gymnastics and archery for several years, and thus adapting to combat had been easy. And that was all this world was about: fighting, fighting and some more fighting.

Using the bow, she had very quickly risen up the ranks of the Camp and had become a Classer the second they had upgraded the Camp to a Village. Now there were 13 or so Classers, but being one of the first showed off your skills. The classes you could get was determined by your battle-ability and method, and the first few Classers outranked the latest ones by far in those fields. This was even more apparent as the Classer Hall would explode out with a pillar of light if the new Classer was strong enough, whereas it would stay dim for the weaker ones, as it had for the latest Classers…

But just because she was strong didn't mean she enjoyed the fighting. This was even more the case when she didn't know who would survive today, in fact would she even survive today? By the racket the Zelts were making as the marched down the Mountain, it was obvious they were beyond confident.

And then the sense of danger hit her, a strong sense of danger. Tanya became confused as she looked around her, no enemies to be seen. But the tug at her heart still remained, a tug she trusted as it was one of her Class's skills: Scout's Heart. It would tell her when something dangerous was going to happen, and it was pulling her heart like there was no tomorrow right now.

Tanya began pacing around the Village, on the lookout for what her skill told her. She thought of Stanis, who had been similarly aged. It was true, they had gotten off to a bad start as Stanis had reeked of suspicion, even her Scout's Heart had told her so. But he had become alright, perhaps even better than alright as she had fought with him in the tunnels. He was strong, strong enough to kill a tier-one solo without a Class, and had various utility skills which she couldn't have been more thankful for. It was why she wished he hadn't died in that raid, otherwise he could have just used his Scouting skill and pazzum, she would have figured out why her Heart was going off so much.

After doing a round of the Village, Tanya grew more confused as she still hadn't found the source of danger. Thus she sat down, doing nothing but listening as she grew sensitive to sound.

"gr" *thud*

She could hear sounds in the distance. She followed the direction and looked: it was just plains. She looked up: nothing. So there could only be one place, and only one enemy she knew of who could do that…

Tanya began sprinting towards the centre where Alyona stood. The tanned woman looked at her with concern, despite the clear exhaustion on Alyona's own face.

"Alyona, shut up!". Alyona stopped voicing her concerns as she allowed Tanya to carry on,

"The Zelts, they're all around us." At this, Alyona peered around at her surroundings before smiling back at Tanya, only to be followed by a face of shock and horror.

"ALL WARRIORS TO ME THIS INSTANT!" her voice rumbled out, now no longer weary but rich and powerful.

"THE ZELTS HAVE DUG AROUND US. PREPARE YOUR GUARDS INSTANTLY."

Following this, Alyona reformed the formation to the best she could in the sparing minutes she had, the Village now defended on all sides. Her face, though, grew grimmer as she realised how many enemies they now actually had to take…

The following minutes were chaotic as tension rose exponentially, each of the warriors' hearts pumping hard as all of them realised how dangerous this battle was going to be. It was worse still when the Zelts themselves broke out of the tunnels, emerging to the ground floor like Ants out of a nest.

Ryr didn't bother hiding his surprise as he saw the active formations set against them, but that was followed by a cackle of laughter as he maniacally bared his teeth, gnashing them as the whole army of Zelts began their war-cries. Their intimidation had the intended effect as each of the Human's eyes now looked scared: scared for their lives just as they should be!

The posturing came to an end as the Zelts began charging at the Village, faster than speeds Humans could achieve as they ran on all fours, bloodlust growing. The results from clash were mixed, some of them being won by Humans while others were won by the Zelts. Either way, the battle very quickly progressed into a sandbox where the aim was for the strongest to kill as many weaklings as they could. But weaklings on both sides began to run out as only the strong were left, leading to even more brutal battles than before.

Tanya and Ji-Yeon, one of the other initial Classers, were faced up against Nal, one of the strength-type tier-twos. Ji-Yeon was a knight and thus had heavier armour than most others in the Village, but not yet metallic as the System had supplied any yet. She had a long scar down her face and flowing black hair, but all this detail seemed irrelevant as she fought with fervour, Tanya backing her up with Piercing arrows. This fight was at a stalemate as neither side could push their advantage against the other, but not all the highest fights were like this.

David, the 6'1 chubby white man from Stanis's final trial, found himself against Zak, the only agility type tier-two here. Zak very quickly found himself overwhelmed as David moved with speeds that should be impossible, his hands free of weapons but still doing more damage than if he was armed. Each punch, uppercut and smash was filled with so much power that Zak was actively sweating as he leapt around like a lizard, fully knowing it was game over if this man-giant hit him.

Orena swept across the battlefield like the phantom she was, each spear swipe beheading countless monsters. Her case became so serious that Kal, the other strength type tier-two, had to actively chase her down and stop her. The main advantage the Zelts had over other races was their defence, even the Zelts who focused on speed and agility had great defence, needless to say about the ones who focused on their strength. And yet it didn't seem that impressive anymore as Kal's whole hide was littered with cuts, some light like they should be but others unnaturally deep, the wounds gaping open. As if it needed to be any worse for him, Kal quickly figured out that this woman in front of him was merely playing around, her spear moving fluidly as she fought him calmly. This further enraged him but to avail on his part as she continued tearing him down.

The last initial Classer, Caleb, had one very specific enemy in mind. He haunted wherever he walked, committing greater carnage than even Orena caused. He knew who he wanted to kill the second he saw Ryr, shouting pleasantries as he blew up Humans to smithereens. This caused Caleb to move with haste, a spear flying out of nowhere forcing Ryr to stop his next spell. He squinted his eyes as he looked at this 6'2 African-American who had tattoos ranging down his bulging muscles. Ryr quickly found himself on the suppressed end as the strongest Classer raged at him furiously, Ryr laughing with madness as he dodged sword strike after strike.

One might think from the highest fights that the Humans were dominating this battle, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Instead the Humans were the losing side as the countless lower Zelts assaulted them, more of them hiding behind every monster body you cut down. This led to the Humans contracting their circle of defence as they fell back, only the strongest Classers daring to go outside this tight, partially-secure space.

And even the Classers began to have a hard time as more and more Zelts threw themselves at them, the fight between them and the tier-twos quickly devolving into fights between them and the whole Zelt population.

This fight was destined to be long and arduous from the start, and both sides quickly realised that even victory wouldn't be very pretty…