The night was deep, stars twinkling high in the sky.
After a simple farm meal of black bread, roasted rabbit, and sweet oatmeal porridge, EeDechi, Barrett, and Franco sprawled out in a large room, sleeping in their clothes. Cheeko, the cat, was curled up on Barrett's chest, their chubby body splayed out like a pancake. The three adventurers and their feline companion sank into a heavy slumber.
…
"They're here!"
In the darkness, Barrett's eyes snapped open. His sword, always tucked under his pillow, was practically nestled against the thin cotton, metal on fabric.
Solid ground carried sound better than air, so the distant tread of footsteps and clatter of hooves traveled swiftly through the earth, straight to Barrett's ears.
This trick—sleeping close to the ground to catch the faintest hint of a night raid—was common knowledge among adventurers and soldiers alike.
Barrett rolled out of bed, swiftly pulling on his clothes and strapping on his leather armor. By all accounts, EeDechi's senses were sharper than his, but she had a knack for ignoring anything that didn't scream danger.
Case in point: there she was, sprawled out like a starfish, clothes in disarray, hair a wild mess.
Franco, on the other hand, was even less graceful. He had a quilt pinned under his body, twisting now and then, muttering dream-talk—probably lost in some steamy fantasy.
"Up! Get up!" Barrett shook them both hard. EeDechi bolted upright, still wearing a groggy, confused look.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! The frantic tolling of bells echoed across the fields, chaotic footsteps pounded back and forth, and torchlight flickered outside the windows, rousing the entire village from its midnight slumber.
"LIZARDMEN ARE HERE! GET READY TO FIGHT! GET READY TO FIGHT!" "Elders and kids, head to the village center!" "Watch out, the lizardmen are setting fires!"
Shouts of panic filled the air. The three adventurers burst out of the house, stepping into a village road teeming with people running in every direction, faces etched with terror. Torches and lanterns cast a blazing glow over the whole settlement.
Young men clutching spears and bows sprinted toward their battle posts. Women stumbled away, clutching children, while elderly mothers pleaded, begging their sons not to join the fight.
The near-defenseless village had long trained for such an attack, and at first glance, they seemed to muster a disciplined, home-defending resolve.
But Barrett knew better. Amateur farmers were no match for seasoned warriors. These young men, barely accustomed to wielding weapons, might hold it together during drills, focusing hard on their duties.
But when war truly struck—when they watched loved ones and lifelong friends cut down, facing a blood-soaked, gruesome hellscape—their spirits would break before the enemy's blades even reached them. They'd either turn tail as cowards or charge headlong into death.
EeDechi and Barrett raced to the village's front lines, where countless pinpricks of firelight dotted the landscape. A horde of dragonborn half-breed lizardmen, gripping all manner of weapons and torches, swarmed across the hills.
The lizardmen didn't rush to attack. The front rank hefted stone balls chained to iron links, each ball slathered in animal fat. They lit the stones ablaze, then swung the chains with a quick flick, turning them into flaming slings.
Dozens of burly lizardmen whirled their slings overhead, the roaring fire circles poised to strike, illuminating their vicious slit-pupil eyes.
A sharp horn blast cut the air, and the flaming slings were unleashed. Instantly, the sky blazed with dozens of fiery meteors.
The meteors crashed into the village one after another, smashing gaping holes in stone fences, shattering rooftops, and crushing the skulls and chests of unlucky souls. Flames erupted in all directions, devouring everything they touched.
"Where's Franco? Get over here!" EeDechi shouted through the panicked crowd.
"Captain, I'm the only mage here, the main damage dealer! You've gotta protect me!" Franco, cowering behind a banyan tree, had a magical shield flickering around him.
"So you do remember you're a mage. Cast a wide-range defensive spell to protect the village, now!" EeDechi bellowed.
Franco hurriedly chanted a spell, a faint orb of light sparking at the tip of his wand. The orb flared, expanding into a protective shield that enveloped most of the village.
The shield worked. Incoming fire meteors struck the barrier, rolling down its surface, flickering in the night sky like burning glass marbles.
WOO~~~ Another grating horn blast echoed from the distant hills, its sound sweeping across the fields. With the horn's cry, the lizardmen charged. Some even slung their spears across their backs, dropping to all fours to scuttle forward, their war cries flooding the hills.
"Unbelievable. I always thought lizardmen were just brute strength with no brains, but they're slinging fireballs and coordinating with horns," EeDechi said, stunned.
"These lizardmen have some dragon blood in them. Looks like it's not just their brawn that got a boost—their brains did too. Dragons are no dummies," Barrett said, scaling the village's barricade and vaulting over to the other side.
"Fight!"
EeDechi, gripping her giant sword, leaped over the wall and charged headfirst into the lizardmen horde.
One after another, lizardmen raised their blades or hurled spears at her, but before their weapons could swing or fly, EeDechi was already on them. With a single swipe of her sword, she sent them flying.
For a moment, a bizarre scene unfolded before the village. It was as if a high-speed specter haunted the battlefield.
No one could make out the phantom's form, but any lizardman it touched ended up with shattered bones, coughing blood, their bodies soaring high into the inky night sky.
"THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!…" The lizardmen charging bravely dropped like flies, barely catching a glimpse of their attacker.
Barrett swung his sword, cleaving through a lizardman lucky enough to reach the village gate, then leaned on his blade, both hands on the hilt, bored out of his mind as he watched the bizarre sight of lizardmen sailing into the night sky one after another. He couldn't even find a place to jump in.
Franco clambered out from behind the barricade. Seeing the littered lizardman corpses, he let out a sigh of relief, then started waving his wand, firing off spells and putting on a show of fighting.
About three minutes later, the lizardmen assaulting the village broke and fled, abandoning their wounded, who groaned in agony on the ground, and scrambling blindly into the dark.
EeDechi's sword came down, slicing through the lizardman commander blowing the horn atop the hill. Watching the remnants of the enemy scatter, she shouldered her giant sword and strode back to the village.
From a distance, the thunder of hooves shattered the dark's silence. Bright crystal searchlights dazzled the eyes as a troop of Slane Theocracy cavalry, mounted on nightmare warhorses, charged in.
A dozen riders led the way, their captain raising a curved blade, bellowing with commanding vigor:
"Villagers who worship false gods, fear not! We're here! You may deny the might of the Six Great Gods, but under their guidance, we've come to save you! Be grateful! Fight! Roar!"
He circled the eerily empty battlefield, looking utterly baffled, then reined his horse toward EeDechi.
She shot him a glance. "Nothing for you to do here."
"These lizardmen… you took them all out?" The captain's voice quavered. The ground was strewn with lizardman corpses, not a single human among them, and the only one left standing was EeDechi. The answer was obvious.