The Tale of the Abysswalker

IV - Brutality of War

Today is the day. Everyone is converging at the tunnel, with Seath and Logan's crystal golems protecting the entrance for now. As everyone gets into the right formation, I come across Gough leading his archers to the back of the formation. I didn't realize during the meeting but I completely forgot to talk about their positioning. Thankfully Lord Gwyn turned out to be one step ahead of me and assigned them a position at the front of the rear guard. An ideal position to protect all the sorcerers as they also have normal swords rather than just ranged weaponry.

Gwyn gives us one last speech before we head into battle.

"I know I will miss a few of thy faces upon returning from the battlefield. It will be a mournful day f'r those lost, but know that in thy heart, ye are doing what thou can to better civilisation f'r everyone. F'r the ones thou love. With that being said, let us engage in combat like we hast nev'r fought 'ere"

As we exit the mouth of the cave, Gwyn exclaims at the top of his lungs, "ATTACK!"

The loudest of battle cries roars up as the army and allies rush outside, enclosed by the crystal golems protecting the front. The dragons take direct notice and at first we are overrun. The golems do all they can to stop them but their feet have a hard time gripping the soft muddy floors. The archers and sorcerers fire as quickly as they possibly can, while Seath keeps a lookout for the back of the formation. No dragons have decided to attack the rear guard yet, so he can focus his spells on the dragons attacking the golems as of now.

As he charges up a massive lightning bolt, suddenly he gets swiped in the neck. His lightning bolt hits the Way of White's members hard, but thankfully enough were able to dodge it. The ones hit are gone from existence and only Nito's necromancers can help them now. The dragon that charged in for Seath has been downed in the meantime.

The formation is struggling with the dragons at the front. Lightning bolts are not being shot properly and hitting the front guard's skeletons or golems. In the midst of Gwyn's army, I shout "MOVE UP, WE NE'D TO HELP THE FRONT GUARD, THE FORMATION IS DISENGAG'D F'R ANON!"

Gwyn's army charges forward, making it easier to hit the dragons with lightning bolts. The Dark Moon Blades' faction is right behind us rushing in to run up the dragons with their by lightning enchanted weaponry. Slowly but surely, the dragons are faltering. Their limbs falling off, but they still continue to fight. As we know, dragons cannot die. They can merely be put out of commission by breaking their whole body. This is the strategy.

Shoot apart their limbs first, so the golems at the front can behead them with their great shields once they are downed. There is an inherent risk to that as the dragons will be able to briefly shoot fire underneath the shields. It's the most effective way, however.

Due to the early losses in the Way of White's formation, Gwyn's army is struggling to uphold itself. The sorcerers at the back have gotten the hang of shooting their magic over long range which is helping a lot, but the numbers at the front and middle guard are dwindling. The necromancers can only do so much if a skeleton is completely crushed and without the Way of White's help, we're mere mortals as well.

There's five dragons left. Two of which are already crippled. Just one final push through and we should be victorious. But then suddenly, Seath is attacked again, this time fracturing one of his legs, making him incapable of protecting the rear guard properly. Now the formation is truly in a pickle.

The sorcerers run away from where Seath is falling to, as he desperately tries to fire some crystal arrows into the neck of the dragon that attacked him. Logan stays by Seath's side, trying to heal up his leg so he can get back up to help out the sorcerers. They end up downing the dragon, but their numbers have slimmed drastically as Seath was unable to attack. Meanwhile, there's two dragons charging for a severely weakened front guard. The only way we can still win this is if we shoot them down right now. I charge up a lightning bolt and enchant my sword. I rush in to the back of the golems. One notices me and turns around, waiting for my command.

"THROW ME UP AT THEM!"

The golems don't have faces, but I'm pretty sure it understood. It's my only hope either way. I run up its hand as it catapults me right at them. This may have been a bad idea. If I hit a dragon head on, I'm dead. I need to fly past and cut them right through the neck. One of the dragons has been downed in the meantime, but we're down to two golems defending us. As I'm flying towards the final dragon, I realize that it's the dragon that killed my parents. I recognize its blind, white eye.

The demon that crushed my father. That burnt my mother. Everything goes black before my eyes in total and utter anger, as I fly towards him and nail him in the side of his neck. I think I got him downed, but it proved that the cut was too shallow. Well, that's it. I've failed my Lord. Myself. I'm still travelling through the air, and a crash landing is imminent. I'll be lucky to be alive.