46 The Fall of Frontier Town

Charlie wiped sweat from his brow as he brought Remian safely down to the ground in a thick cushion of air. For the moment there, he was afraid he was about to lose his business partner (and therefore, the blue mana crystals) for good.

Already he had lost the airship, of which he was a partial owner and working partner. Just one million Lir wasn't going to be enough to compensate him for THAT loss! Five million would barely cover the initial cost of his buying in as a partner, not to mention the loss of potential business and his time! Those blue mana crystals were the only comfort Charlie had as to his efforts on this disastrous night.

Who could compensate him for the losses? Who was to blame? Was it the captain, for piloting the airship so close to the Wild? But how was he to know it had such powers? And besides, the captain was dead. The dead could not owe.

Which, of course, was another reason to save Remian. If the guy felt guilty enough, Charlie could stand to make more profit off him…

Up ahead, there was roaring, and screams. People were trying to stop the Tier 5 Wild and nobody was faring any better than Charlie or Remian themselves.

"Javelins!" Markus called. But as far as the Tier 5 monster was concerned, nothing happened. It probably didn't even feel any of it. Markus' voice rose again. "Tim! Lend me your spear!"

"George! Your glaive!" Max requested roughly at the same time.

There was a short, awkward silence where the only sounds were the sounds of the ground shaking to the Tier 5's footsteps. They didn't even slow.

Charlie followed behind them quietly, magically towing along the unconscious Remian on that cushion of air. Pretty soon there were a couple more roars, and then a terrible crashing sound.

"There go the Guard Towers." Charlie mourned their loss on Remian's behalf. They had been set up well against Tier 3's, even Tier 4's, but this beast was just too much.

They passed by the wreckage of the Towers. Incidentally, Charlie met Arnold on the other side of what used to be the Legion Tower, grimly salvaging what useful pieces he could from the shattered siege weapons he had so painstakingly crafted. He looked like he was about to cry.

"See, this is why we should have built them on moving platforms. This is why…" he trailed off, then wordlessly went back to saving whatever pieces he could from his ruined work.

Well… at least the Iron Legion had plenty of crushed stone for their road, now.

The Tier 5 was rampaging around town. The entire central area was practically flattened already. It began to wander around, turning left. Burning Steel Slayers were trying to kill it, two of them on its back, hacking and stabbing at its neck. One of them tried to throw explosives into its mouth.

SNAP! The explosives weren't the only things that went into its mouth. That was the end of one of the Burning Steel Slayers. There was a small thud, and then smoke emerged from the Spike-Back's nose, but the beast itself only snorted and puffed out a smoke ring. Then it proceeded to trample around the west, making a full circle of ruin, then another circle, leaving rubble and wreckage in its wake.

"Charlie?" Remian came to at that point. He sat up just in time to see the Spike-Back smash through the Burning Steel Forge. Broken weapons and pieces of armor went flying halfway across the West Side. "Oh, scrap."

"Yeah." Charlie grimaced, not knowing what else to say.

"Remian! Charlie!" Mindy found them, and ran up to them crying. "Help!"

"Mindy? What's wrong?" Remian got to his feet so fast, he tilted dangerously to one side and almost fell over again. "Ugh…"

"Slowly, take it easy." Charlie advised.

But Remian wasn't paying attention to him. "Mindy! What's wrong?"

"It's my sister…" Mindy sobbed. "Mandy refused to leave the shop."

***

"What?!" Remian stared at the central area of town.

Nothing remained standing. The shops, the inn, the church… everything had been reduced to rubble.

"Mandy!" Remian gasped, and ran to find her…

Only to stumble as the world spun crazily.

"Take it easy, I said!" Charlie snapped. "Where's that wolfcat of yours?"

"Carrie…" Remian muttered. [Carrie! Help!]

[Remian!] Carrie was at the front, but hearing his call, she came looking for him. [What happened?]

[Ask me later! We need to find Mandy…] Remian caught his breath and stood very still as the dizziness subsided. Carrie arrived and promptly took him up on her shoulder like a father picking up his child. Then, she picked up Mindy. [She was at the shop house!]

[Hold on.] Carrie instructed, and loped for the town center.

It was bad. Not only were there no structure that remained standing, not even the furniture had survived the trampling. Everything was broken, every wall, every table, and every person.

"That was Jon." Remian heard Mindy say in a low sob.

"Why?" Remian asked in frustration. "Why didn't she evacuate? I told them! I told her to leave!"

"She couldn't. She wouldn't. She finally had her dream…" Mindy said, between sobs. "A place to shelter everybody, that we could all come home to… a place she could call her own."

"We could build her another one! She didn't have to… to…!" Remian grit his teeth.

Was it his fault that she stayed, trying to fight off a Tier 5 Wild? Waiting for some miracle that never happened? Because until now, there had always been a miracle, something amazing had always happened to save the town, Remian always had some unexpected breakthrough…

But not even that could save them this time. Remian's surprise power had hurt the Wild enough to make it angry, but not enough to stop it. This time, Remian's best efforts weren't enough.

"She wouldn't give it up." Mindy summarized.

Carrie sniffed, sniffed again, then scampered along the rubble, her nose to the ground. [I smell her. She's bleeding.]

"She's alive?" Remian clutched Carrie's fur tightly. "Let's move!"

Mindy stopped crying just like that. She began to shout. "Mandy! Mandy!!"

"Here!" Mandy's voice called back weakly.

Carrie dashed forward. There was Mandy, indeed, lying in a heap of roof tiles. She was bleeding, battered, bruised… but alive. "My leg… my arm…"

"Hold still." Remian said, gushing with relief. He slid down off Carrie's back. "Mindy, Carrie… get Rhema."

He crouched down with her, clearing rubble away, inspecting her injuries. Mandy's entire left side looked to be in very bad shape. Remian winced to see it.

"You look like hell." Mandy advised him drily.

Remian snorted. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."

Charlie arrived before Rhema did. "What happened here?"

"Somebody wouldn't leave when I told her to, and…" Remian gestured with a growl.

"Dragon-turtle came running into the shop house and sent it flying in pieces." Mandy coughed.

"Really? But I wasn't asking about the shop house… what happened to you?" Charlie specified.

"I was IN it!"

"What were you doing in it?" Charlie asked, eyebrow raised. He held a hand over her. Soft white light shimmered as he passed it over her body, scanning.

Remian wanted to know that too.

"Trying to get that blasted Fire Ball wand to work, just one more time…" Mandy grimaced.

"I TOLD you…" Remian groaned out loud. "And I also told you that the power was spent already! Why wouldn't you listen to me?!"

He should have given that wand back to Buff! He should have… if he'd just taken the time…

But that wand gave Mandy a sense of security, even if it didn't work anymore.

"We need to get you a new wand. Something that works." Remian grunted, guilt weighing down on him.

"We need to get me a wheelchair, first." Mandy grimaced.

"Or a stretcher." Charlie said mildly. He glanced at Remian. "Her back isn't broken. We can put her on it and bring her to safety. It'll take both of us to get one over."

"Can't you just magic it here?" Remian asked.

"Can't." Charlie shook his head. "I've spent most of my mana already, and I don't want to waste mana potions. We're going to need to sell it for money to rebuild."

"Why do you need money to rebuild? This isn't your town." Remian shook his head.

"No, but that airport was partially mine. Plus, I need a new airship." Charlie pointed out. "My last one broke trying to help you."

Remian's face fell. "Sorry. That wasn't… I mean… sorry."

"Chill, man. It was a battle. We'll buy or build another one. Just chill." Charlie advised. "And come help me grab a stretcher."

The rampage went on as they brought Mandy to the relief site at the workers and mercenaries quarters. Abruptly, as they were settling her down, the crashing and shaking stopped.

"What happened?" Remian asked, but everyone was asking the same question.

And then, a baffled thought-wave arrived from the Tier 5 Spike-Back Lizard.

[What happened? Where am I? Can someone tell me what is going on?]