Valknar
patreon
Chapter 131
🕑 Added 2025-04-30 15:13:45 +0000 UTCThe pack of werewolves had entered the mountains.
They moved with purpose and travelled fast through the mountain valleys. Whatever was behind them always drove them in its chosen direction. The number of people dropped dramatically, and the number of infections fell. This allowed the people trying to contain the outbreak a chance to end it and stop more infections.
The local monster population rose to defend their territories. The battles were vicious and brutal, echoing through valleys and passes. They were still weakened from the twisted traveling through their territories, and the resulting challenges were from those who remained. The difference was that the monsters moving through their territories were part of the world, and they felt more confident in fighting them. The werewolf pack lost members, but others gained strength as they progressed. The local monster population fell further.
The group was tracked, and its direction was confirmed. Word was sent to those who needed to know. Preparations were started or accelerated.
Shadow Vale was tense as word of the pack had gotten out. The explorers and miners were pulled back from the northern valleys, and the northern palisade was reinforced and strengthened. Even the least informed of the city's population realised trouble was coming. Many were afraid, but most were prepared. It was a brutal world, and the people had seen such times before.
Eleven days later, the pack was in the next valley. They would be here tomorrow. It was a long night for nearly everyone.
## ## ## ## ##
Ranus was standing next to the palisade with Danrum. The air was thick with tension and the smell of sweat.
“Are we ready?” He asked.
“Hard to say.” Danrum looked down the wall at his Watch manning it. “We are ready as we can be. The silver you supplied will most likely be the deciding factor.”
“When will they arrive?” Ranus joined him, looking at the wall.
“Shortly. We will see…”
Howling echoed from the distance to the north. Everyone tensed up as the expected danger had arrived. It was a relief in some ways, and the threat was finally confirmed in others.
“Everyone to the walls!” Danrum’s voice yelled, breaking the spell and getting people moving. Ranus walked to a building with a good view of the palisade. It had already been chosen for that view.
By the time he reached the top and climbed onto the roof, the palisade was fully manned. The Watch, adventurers, and the orders militants were standing shoulder to shoulder. Behind the palisade were even more adventurers and church members ready to act as support. More Archers and mages were prepared to unleash spells and arrows when required on the roofs of the buildings behind them. The buildings have been evacuated and fortified as a second line of defence. The streets had been barricaded as well between the buildings. If the palisade falls, everyone will retreat here and make another stand.
After that, it would be up to who was left to destroy the pack.
The bulk of the population was on the city's southern side, ready to evacuate if ordered. The rest had fortified their dwellings as best they could.
The howls in the distance were getting louder and closer. Out across the floodplain, they could see the watchtower marking the surface level of the Dungeon. Everyone had been evacuated from this area behind the palisade. Most believed that the pack would bypass the building and attack the wall, and whatever was behind them, driving them here, would attack the Dungeon.
Ranus had used the communication crystal to warn the Dungeon that the pack was coming. He found out that the Dungeon was aware, as the adventurers had been talking about it since they had become aware of the danger approaching. It assured him he was making his own preparations.
Ranus had then focused on the city's fortifications with his group of advisors.
Then, days passed in a blur. He had done so much, but it felt like it was not enough. Now, like many others, he was standing looking to the north, waiting for the pack to arrive and battle to be joined.
As part of their preparations, piles of stones were painted white across the floodplain at set intervals. This was to tell the mages and archers the range from the wall. The trees on the other side of the valley were cut back to prevent the werewolves from closing with cover. The mountainside was more like a cliff, and it would protect the right flank. The river secured the left. They must come to the palisade and the kill zone laid out.
He was dressed in a suit of chainmail armour with his sword slung at his hip. He could not do much but was preparing to do it anyway. It was all he could do to stop his hands from shaking, so he followed him across his chest.
Doltum and Averance had both agreed to join the defence of his city. Averance, on her own, could have destroyed the werewolf pack approaching. The danger to her was what was coming behind it. Whatever it was, it still avoided detection, and they were unsure of its nature. Everyone had agreed that it was counted amongst the twisted ones corrupted by void essence. After a night of arguing, it was decided to let the Dungeon deal with what it ever was.
Below him and from the palisade, he could hear orders and some giving final words of encouragement or advice. He felt he needed to give a speech but did not know what to say, so he decided to trust those around him to help carry the day.
The howling was closer.
They were not hiding their approach. They were telling the city that they were here and hunting. They could see birds flying from the trees to the north, escaping whatever had scared them. The birds were now taking flight from the trees closest to the floodplain.
“Any minute now, be ready!” Danrum yelled from the palisade. It was still a wooden wall of logs, but they had time to put a step behind it, allowing defenders to fight from a height. The wood came from the cleared trees.
What concerned him was it was still wood. He would have been happier with stone.
Silence.
It seemed everyone was holding their breath.
Suddenly, there was an explosion of movement from the tree line with far more howling.
It was hard to see them as they were moving fast across the floodplain, but they were coming—blurred shapes approached the wall of wood. Thirty or more, he could not make out the numbers.
“Archer’s fire!” Danrum yelled the order.
From Shadow Vale, several hundred archers unleashed their arrows into the flood plain. They loosed the arrows into a pre-sighted area, as werewolves were known for speed. Hitting such a target running was hard enough for veteran archers. The majority of the archers present were far from that level of skill. Danrum had decided on arrow volume over accuracy.
Ranus saw most arrows hitting the ground and knew many had struck true, but they came on anyway.
“Archers loose at will. Magic users ready!” Danrum moved to the next stage of the defence. The magic users gathered their power as Danrum marked the shrinking distance to the wall. “Release!”
Almost every form of magic attack spell Ranus could imagine was released at werewolves. A riot of colour and sound exploded when it contacted the approaching monsters. Flashes of light and earth thrown into the air obscured the approaching line.
Many hoped that that would be the end of it. The older ones knew better.
From the settling dust, they came on.
They were then at the wall. Ranus lost sight of them for a few seconds. Then, they scaled the walls, and the defenders fought for their lives. Skills joined the arrows, and spells were used at close range. The monster used their abilities, and blood started to flow.
Ranus tore his eyes from the battle as he drew his sword. He looked at the distant watch tower, saw the doors smashed in, and caught a glimpse of something going deeper into the building. The Dungeon was on its own.
An explosion pulled his attention back to the wall.
Averance and Doltum were now engaged.
Ranus looked across the whole line from his vantage point.
Dead were everywhere. The werewolves were fighting groups, trying to support each other, and the defenders were trying to keep them separated. The alpha was threatening to break the defenders. Wounded were being pulled back where possible. Scenes of desperation and courage are everywhere.
The alpha tore apart a member of the orders. Averance stepped in to fight it.
The two became blurs of movement.
Doltum was moving down the line, slicing with his sword and casting spells. Help all those in need when he could, avenging those he could not.
Danrum was holding the middle, rallying those around him.
Ranus had never felt so useless in his life.
He could not tell if they were winning or losing.
Then, something changes.
Averance stood above the dead alpha, shaking the pack. Their bloodlust was up, and the fight went on.
There are more deaths every second, both monsters and defenders.
It was too much to keep track of.
Then, the remaining werewolves turned and tried to run as their morale broke.
The defenders know not to let up, or the plague will continue, and the monster will return.
Ranus left the roof and went down through the building. When he reached the ground, the werewolves had been driven from the palisade. He could smell and hear the aftermath when he entered the space between the palisade and the buildings.
Ranus had heard that a battle won was almost as bad as a battle lost.
He never understood that until now.
Blood, death and the screaming of the wounded assaulted his senses. He almost gagged but controlled himself. Others did not.
The Church of Ilinia, along with many others, was out in force, treating the wounded and halting the spread of the infection to the city. The Watch was holding the palisade under a wounded Danrum’s command. The adventurers pushed out from the gate into the flood plains, hunting the last werewolves. Averance and Doltum were leading them. He could hear explosions past the palisade, indicating the fight was still happening.
Ranus could see the monsters that attacked the city close up for the first time.
He approached a bloody and hacked corpse. The iron-grey fur is still visible in many areas—two dead bodies of defenders on either side—one a Watch member, the other an adventurer.
They were humanoid—a walking wolf was one way to describe them. What stood out to him was that they were not broad but tall and sleek, made for speed over power. They were sleek hunters who worked together to take down their prey, just like other wolves. Sleek was the best word he could use to describe them, and it came to him every time he looked at a werewolf body.
He walked to Danrum. He steps with great care, avoiding the blood and bodies. Everyone was focused on the living and near dying right now.
“Danrum, report!” He called up to the other man.
Danrum looks back, confused for a few seconds, but realises it is Ranus talking. “Lord Goldwing, the pack is broken, but we paid for it. Averance is leading a hunting party to finish the rest.”
“Casualties?” Ranus asked.
“Impossible to tell. The best idea of numbers will be tomorrow.” His answer was as grim as his features.
“Understood.”
There was not much more to say, and interrupting the others along the wall would be a bad idea as they were busy. Ranus decided to help out the support personnel running around, as they had their hands full now with the aftermath. It was bloody and dirty work, but it needed to be done, which surprised many that he was actually getting involved with it.
He was doing it to stay busy and cover his last great fear. What was happening down in the underground sections of the Dungeon? He knew that even with their victory here, it could all be undone if the Dungeon fell to whatever monster was attacking it.
Danrum had posted watchers to observe the surface building, but so far, they had not reported anything, and the longer it went on, the more afraid he became.
