Chapter 174: Prep For War; Unbearable Force

With all said and done, all that was left now was to get to the action. 

It's been about two or three hours since the sun went down now, and yet there hasn't been even a single squeak or growl from our vulnerable surroundings.

Piol has said that there are some days, usually after momentous defeats or breaches, where the monsters would not make an appearance, far too busy digesting their previous haul.

But he doesn't believe tonight would be such a night, even though he has confessed to having not seen or heard of any casualties in the previous night's struggles.

I can't blame him for keeping his guard up, or ask him to relax, no, we're far in too deep to begin even thinking of relaxation.

Everyone else may not be aware of what lies so close on the horizon, just inches away. But I am, with Shaco's natural senses it's Childs play to feel their presence permeating every bit of the space around us.

They appeared about thirty minutes ago, creeping out from the forest behind the village at speed and out of bushes and woods I hadn't even been aware of, not that it matters now though, they're here now.

The grass here isn't long, not as long as it was near Aste, I assume there won't be any surprises. But from what Shaco can see, the creatures milling about on the edge are far too large to not be seen coming.

And they are many in number. I'd say a pack of them…Werebears.

I'm not sure what they're waiting for, but from Shaco's endangered view of the beasts I think they're studying the walls.

I suppose I'd be surprised and a bit cautious as well when the castle I've been sieging suddenly stops putting up lights or tossing out deterrents.

But the beasts are not so curious or enamoured by this behaviour to notice our camp fire, the lights, the fire previously meant to be a deterrent quickly becomes a beacon as the snarl their way closer.

And within moments of their decision to change targets, the first Aste soldier hollers out.

"Hey, hey I hear something." He says, cold sweat dripping with a torch in hand – a gift from one of the Warriors.

Juri doesn't waste a moment asking what, he unsheathes his blade, large and heavy, and booms with command, "Men! Line up and ready for the toughest battle of your lives!"

Twenty-five of them cover the front and sides and the other half the back, making for a wide, box shape where Piol and I stand at the centre.

"They're here Asher…" Anselm says from above, worry and fright stain his voice as he anxiously twirls his mace, frost oozing off of it.

"I know...first blood goes to me." 

Anselm looks down at me, confused but I don't give him chance to ask what I mean.

"Bone Spikes." Uttering the name of the spell, mana seeps through me and to Shaco several feet away in the darkness, conveniently behind the creeping Werebears who have yet to come into the light.

The moment my familiar receives sufficient mana the spells activates and in a blink the ground erupts, dirt tossed in the air as the bones of many of their previous victims launch out at their unprotected backs.

"RRaarrrgghh!"

The painful growl of two Werebear's being pierced signals the start of this…this hunt.

The other creatures turn back for a split second to see two of their pack raging in pain from unnaturally long bones piercing their backs, but they waste no time on the sentiment and launch themselves at us with salivating hunger.

"Pikemen!" Juri commands, and the pikemen, ten of them, are quick to line themselves up at the front and dig into the dirt with their pikes, steady and firm.

I waste no time either and issue another spell to Shaco, "Blood Scythe!" 

It seemed bones would not be enough to fell one of these giant bipedal bears. The two I stabbed with my bones had already begun to recover, and were attempting to join the assault.

But not if I can help it.

"Cut out their ankles, Shaco!"

"Understood Master." 

It's fortunate that the Werebears stood so tall and giant they didn't notice Shaco slithering around between their legs.

If they did, they would have taken him out long before I got the chance to use their own blood to form the instrument of their downfall.

Blood from the stab's pools out into the air behind them, forming a thin, sharp scythe that comes down at their ankles, cutting clean through.

Another painful cry from the two confirms my success at crippling them.

Satisfied I leave Shaco's eyes and come back to my own. Unfortunately, I'm treated to a painful view the moment I get my bearings from the switch.

The pikemen are holding up, although barely. Their pikes are truly enchanted; rather than the wild feral Werebears slam their bouldering weight into the mere sticks of a pike, they're pierced by a blue ethereal rod that protrudes from where the tip of the normal pike stops.

The Werebears are pretty much held at bay. But not for long; the bears are wide and have a lot of muscle, some of them are feral enough to walk through the pikes to get to their targets, not to mention the fact that they weight far more than any man can hope to hold all alone.

Fuckkkk.

I'd previously counted the Werebear pack to be about ten, but the sounds of their growls and overall grunts of battle must have summoned up seven more, making this a hideous attack of seventeen Werebears, excluding the ones I've crippled.

"Snap out of it, Asher!" Anselm yells from…somewhere. With so many bodies caging me in and so much going on it's hard to know whats what.

But he's right.

"Death Grip." I utter the spell I should have started with in the first place and as the green ethereal hands of death and decay begin to come of my body…

The line breaks.

One of the Werebears manages to walk all the way through the offending pike in their gut and pick up two of unfortunate soldiers in their way, tossing them in the air like a doll.

And with a hole in the first and only defensive line, two Werebears come charging at me.