“What should we do?” I asked Art.

  DING DONG

  Loud bell sounds rang outside.

  “Let’s meet with the rest of the party, then, we can decide what to do,” Art said while strapping his spears’ pack to his back.

  We ran outside and found the party, the advisor, and the Count standing together. The Count was shouting at the advisor, who seemed to be about to cry.

  “How did we lose the southern gate?!” The Count asked, shouting.

  “I don’t know, Sir. It happened in a second, Shamans attacked us and took the gate. I ask for your forgiveness, we were overwhelmed,” the Advisor answered.

  The soldiers in the square were looking at the Count with stress apparent on their faces.

  ‘This shout-out can’t be good for the morale,’ I thought.

  “You will be heavily punished when I’m done with the Baras. Who even allowed you to retreat? Are my orders unimportant anymore?! Don’t you respect your leader?!” The Count shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the advisor.

  “Count Louis, you can later punish the advisor. Now, we need a plan. We should make teams and attack the Baras in the city. They are known for their barbarism, so, if we don’t protect the civilians, every man, child, and elderly will be killed and every woman will be rapped,” Black Eye said.

  “No, I think we should stay in the palace and- “

  “No, I don’t want to hear a word from you Zakei. We will go with the captain’s plan. Any objections?”

  No one answered the Count.

  “Then it's settled.”

  BOOOOM

  An explosion came from the city.

  “The Shamans,” the Count said, hate filling his eyes.

  “Let’s go.”

  ……….

  All the soldiers in the courtyard were immobilized, moving into the city.

  As we headed to the southern gate, I saw Shareefs circling rising black smoke columns. An explosion rang, from time to time, making my heart skip a few beats.

  “Goddammit. War is… horrible.”

  “Yeah,” Art answered me briefly.

  Hugo seemed to hear me as he looked back at me and snickered.

  ‘Bastard!’

  We reached an interception where soldiers were stationed, protecting a vital spot.

  A soldier came to us. “Sir, should we abandon our position and join forces with you?”

  “No need. There might be Baras, who are using the sewers or back streets to backstab us, so, protect our backs,” The Count said.

  “As you wish sir.”

  At that moment, an arrow tore through the air and hit the Count in the face. A Shimmering blue shield sprung to life around the Count, protecting him from certain death.

  “BARAS!!!”

  And like that, all hell broke loose.

  Rocks and arrows started raining on us.

  BOOM

  An explosion hit the front of the group, shaking the ground.

  “SHAMANS.”

  ‘Goddammit! Those filthy Shamans.’

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “SHIELDS!”

  All men raised their shields, forming a barrier between them and the skies. But, Baras started pouring from the streets, coming out of nowhere.

  ‘They are trying to surround us!’

  “Since when did these f*ckers know how to use tactics,” I heard a soldier shout.

  “Men! Protect the Count! Fight for your families, For your HONOR!” Captain Sevaris shouted.

  I didn’t know what to do, so I looked at Black Eye. He was looking at the sky with an indescribable expression on his face.

  Following his line of sight, I saw the unbelievable. Three Shamans, each on a Shareef, with their arms stretched and palms wide open were feeding a fireball the size of a horse. The fireball was gaining mass by the second.

  “DISPERSE!!!” A soldier shouted.

  Surrounded by soldiers, I couldn’t escape.

  “All of you! Come closer, NOW,” Black Eye shouted.

  The party came closer to Black Eye, who took out his black sword. The sword exploded with dark matter that surrounded us.

  WEEEEEEEEEP

  A whistling sound tore through the air.

  BOOOOOM

  The ground shook beneath my feet and I fell on my bum.

  “I can’t hold the dome much longer,” I heard a labored voice saying. It took me a few seconds to realize the voice belonged to Black Eye.

  “Art!” was all I managed to say before my vision returned. A black dome that was blocking the light collapsed around me and the group. The dome shrank and got sucked back to the tip of Black Eye’s black sword, revealing devastation all around us.

  A heat wave hit me, drying my eyes and burning my hair. After the wave a smell, worse than a week-old decomposed corpse, assaulted my nose, making me empty the contents of my stomach. It smelled like burnt flesh. But what I saw was much worse.

  The party was situated on an island of peace, but all around us was hell. Smoke rose from soldiers’ burnt bodies, bodies that littered the ground. They were unrecognizable anymore with flesh and skin melting and combing with armor.

  On the periphery of the explosion, I could barely see some soldiers still alive, accounting for maybe a hundred. But they were being subjugated by the Baras. The only one who was truly putting up a fight was the Count, who, miraculously, was still alive. He was shooting blue fireballs at the sky.

  “What should we do, captain? We are going to be surrounded soon,” Neymar said. He had transformed not only his hands but also his legs and face. His wolf snout was full of sharp teeth, and his legs had the same thick black fur as his arms. He looked fierce.

  Black Eye was on his knee still breathing heavily.

  ‘Who could make him this… this pitiful looking? Those Shamans, they are monsters.’

  “I think the Shamans are momentarily out of the fight, they must have depleted their mana to fire such a strong attack. H-Hugo, lead the way, take us to the western gate. W-we must escape the city to the dungeon,” Black Eye said. He seemed about to lose consciousness.

  Hugo’s body flared with “Phantom Muscles” He held Black and started running.

  The group ran after Hugo. I was stunned for a second, but my survival instincts kicked in, and I followed them.

  The Baras started shouting and pointing at us, not noticing us before because of the black smoke.

  The group formed a spear formation as they ran, with Hugo at its tip. I didn’t know where to position myself, so I went to the right side, which was the side of my remaining arm.

  Upon reaching the first Bara Hugo swatted him away with his arm, sending the man flying.

  Soon dozens of Baras faced us, and the sky started raining arrows on us. I made a circle using my “Awareness Shaper” skill and put it behind me to prevent any surprise attacks from damaging me, as I needed to be aware of the attack so that my body could transform to stop it.

  The Baras didn’t wait for us to come to them, they charged us. We collided with the Baras and all hell broke loose.

  A Bara chopped at me from above, I swatted the attack and continued running as I didn’t have enough time for prolonged confrontations.

  Another Bara swiped his sword at me, aiming for my stomach. My hand was in an awkward position and I couldn’t evade the attack so I let it hit me. The attack went inside my torso but it didn’t hinder me as it went out of my transformed flank and hit a second Bara.

  Two Baras jumped at me, trying to pin me down so they could kill me. I hit one with the pommel of my sword on the back of his head. For the other, I created transformation liquid on my shoulder, shaped it like an arm with a condensed hammer in the place of the hand, and hit the man. The attack wasn’t strong as I didn’t condense the hammer much, but I managed to get the man off me quickly.

  I didn’t get rid of the hammer arm on my shoulder as I started using it to help me defend myself.

  It felt like an eternity but we finally broke through the Baras. Hope rose through my heart as we managed to outrun the Baras with our Lio-strengthened bodies. My hope didn’t last long as after we broke through, the Baras intensified their air attacks. A lot of arrows were shot at me, but, thanks to my “Awareness Shaper” Skill I knew of them and my “Perfect Being” Transformed my body at the right time, making arrows stick through me but none managed to harm me.

  I disposed of every arrow that hit me and untransformed the hit part. I even untransformed my hammer arm, wanting to preserve my mana.

  Some Shareef birds tried to fly low and hit us, but they were discouraged as Art and Naya shot spears and arrows at them. They even managed to kill one Shareef.

  We soon reached the western gate and started running through the plains. Weirdly the Baras attacks stopped. After a few minutes of running, I was starting to feel delirious. Exhaustion was starting to catch up to me.

  But I preserved upon seeing the Dungeon’s Lake shimmering in the moon’s light at the not-so-far distance.

  My preservation was for nothing as we had to stop running when a Shareef dropped before us. Two men jumped down from atop the Shareef’s majestic body. It was my first time seeing a Shareef up close. They had sand-colored feathers with a black mane around their necks and face. Their Beaks were long and curved at the end. They also had three legs ending with sharp talons. The third lag came from the chest area and was shorter than the other two.

  The two men who jumped down were wearing black armor and masks. The masks covered all their faces and I wondered how they managed to see.

  “Your life ends here,” one of the men said, his voice distorted and unnatural.

  ‘Shamans!’