The forest trembled beneath the weight of the battle. The roars of demons, the clash of steel, the screams of the wounded all blended into a symphony of chaos. The forest had turned completely into a battlefield, and the air reeked of blood, burning wood, and the sickly stench of demon flesh. Screams of agony mixed with the roars of battle, filling the darkening sky as the sun dipped beneath the horizon. The once-serene woodland had become a realm of chaos, where monsters fought monsters in a tense showdown.
The Monster Coalition, numbering just under a thousand, stood firm against the ravenous demon horde, a tide of all sorts of creatures, some barely humanoid, others bestial abominations with multiple limbs, glowing red eyes, and flesh that pulsed with foul energy, even for those that could not be considered holy to tell.
Through the smoke and carnage, a specialized team moved with purpose, working under the healers. Unlike the frontline warriors, their task was not to kill, but to retrieve the fallen before they perished.
"We’ve got another down!" a gruff beastkin barked, pointing toward a heavily wounded beastkin struggling to rise.
A pair of goblins darted between the clashing forces, reaching the injured fighter before a lunging demon could finish him off.
One of the goblins, pulled a curved dagger from his belt and slashed across the demon’s exposed knee, sending it toppling forward. His companion then drove her spear through its throat, silencing it instantly. Wasting no time, they hauled the beastkin onto a stretcher, his fur matted with blood, and began their retreat toward the healers.
All around them, the wounded were being pulled from the fray, some groaning in pain, some with dangling body parts, while others barely clinging to life.
They were all brought further behind the main battle, nestled between a thick grove of trees where the makeshift healer’s camp had been set up. It was a sanctuary amidst the bloodshed, where the injured were brought in waves, laid out on the ground or on hastily prepared bedding.
Mira was very much present at the center of this side of the battle, her face looking worked up with her hands stained with blood.
"We need more potions over here!" she shouted, pressing her palm against a goblin’s torn abdomen, her magic flaring to seal the wound. The healers could only use their magic sparingly lest they ran out of energy, which would be bad.
A beastkin healer rushed over, placing a bowl of murky liquid beside her. Mira grabbed it immediately, pouring the mixture into the goblin’s mouth.
The wounded soldier groaned, his body shuddering as the herbal remedy took effect.
Across the camp, other healers worked tirelessly, their hands glowing with healing magic, their eyes hollow with exhaustion. Some applied herbal pastes, others stitched wounds manually where magic alone could not suffice, or where they had to save energy.
Despite their best efforts, some warriors could not be saved, but their presence did more than enough.
Mira glanced over her shoulder as an orc healer, her face grim, pulled a sheet over a lifeless comrade. She couldn’t help but think of how different things would have been if Lance was with them, but she understood it could not be helped. He could not be in two places at once after all.
---
Out in the battlefield, the three leaders of the Monster Coalition, Lance, Ruzak, and Gorvak fought on the front lines, their weapons drenched in blackened demon blood, their bodies stained with dirt, blood and sweat.
Just there, a four-armed demon with its flesh armored with jagged bone-like protrusions lunged at Lance, four bone-like blades swinging down in a crisscrossing arc aiming to cleave him in half. Lance however, moved swiftly, faster than the demon anticipated. He ducked, his body turning gracefully, and with a sharp turn of his wrist, his sword sliced upward, cutting clean through one of the demon’s thick wrists. A blackened bone-like claw dropped to the ground, twitching.
The demon shrieked, stepping back, but Lance didn’t give it a chance to recover as his second blade flashed with a horizontal slash that split the creature’s throat open, sending a spray of dark blood into the dirt.
Before the corpse even hit the ground, he turned, just in time to see Ruzak leaping into the air, his claws gleaming in the dim light following a growl.
The beastkin leader landed atop a winged demon, ripping into its back, his claws digging deep into its spine. The demon screeched, thrashing, trying to shake him off, but Ruzak was relentless. With a firm grip on its backbone, he pulled hard, ripping its very backbone out of its own body in a brutal manner, sending the beast crashing after he jumped off it.
As he landed, he caught sight of Gorvak, who was holding back an entire surge of demons by himself, showcasing the brutish strength of the orcs.
A massive demon brute, easily twice Gorvak’s size, swung its arms made into a fist at him. The impact cracked the very root Gorvak stood on, but he merely grunted, catching the force of the strike with his towering frame. His muscles bulged with raw power, and with a guttural growl, he swung his axe in a devastating arc, caving in the demon’s ribcage. With a second swing, its skull crumpled like brittle stone, and the beast collapsed in a heap of crushed flesh and broken limbs.
The trio barely had a moment’s breath before another wave of demons surged forward. They had almost gone lost in battle by this point, having taken down several of their enemies in the tens, something that took several warriors to accomplish. Lance fought proudly amongst the other leaders, his strength more than adequate for him to stand his ground amidst monsters.
…
Not far from them, Rynne, Zarra, Rikka, and Kaeli held their ground, each engaged in their own deadly battles while still working together to fell the enemy.
Rynne was not at all going too lag behind, her spear an extension of her body as she almost danced between enemies, each strike a blend of strength and lethality. A serpentine demon lunged at her, its fanged maw aiming for her throat as its body extended. She managed to sidestep at a critical moment after her attention was called to it by Rikka, her spear flashing forward, piercing straight through the roof of its mouth and out the back of its skull.
With a twist, she ripped her weapon free, spinning to parry an incoming strike from another demon, her movements showing years of practice and discipline.
While Rynne fought using strength and speed, Zarra, in contrast, fought like a shadow given form, her movements similar to that of the feline beastkin counterparts.
She moved between demons unseen in the chaos, her daggers whispering through the air, slicing exposed tendons, piercing vulnerable spots between armor and flesh. One demon had even whirled around, sensing her presence, only to feel the cold steel of her blade slide between its ribs.
It gurgled, staring at her in stunned horror, before she yanked her dagger free and moved on without a second glance. Though some of her attacks weren’t enough to kill immediately, they only left her targets severely weakened and open to attacks by any close by ally.
Rikka happened to be close, tearing apart the demon Zarra had just stabbed with her daggers in a cross arc before turning to a massive demon beast that had its body covered in thick matted fur. It charged at her, but instead of dodging, she met it head-on, sliding beneath its swinging claws at the last second.
As she passed beneath its belly, her dagger slashed, gutting the creature as she emerged on the other side. The beast staggered, its intestines spilling out, and collapsed with a dying snarl. After watching for a brief second to make sure her target was dead, she moved again. Unlike Zarra who moved with nimble steps, Rikka was more ferocious in her way of fighting, combining speed with strength and technique.
While the others fought, Kaeli, though not as agile as the others, made up for it with sheer brute force. Against a hulking bull-like demon, Kaeli chose to stand firm, gripping her war hammer with both hands.
Just as the beast reached her, she sidestepped and swung the hammer, slamming into the side of its skull with enough force to cave it in. The beast crumpled, twitching, before receiving a series of pounds from her hammer, finally going still.
…
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The battle raged on as the coalition army pushed against their enemies. Despite their efforts, the demon horde did not stop. They were like a brainless but coordinated force.
A sudden break towards the back lines sent a wave of demons crashing through, threatening to overrun the coalition warriors.
Goblins screamed, some falling beneath clawed hands, their bodies ripped apart. Beastkin warriors fell, their blood soaking into the battlefield. The orcs struggled to hold the line, but even their endurance had limits.
Just then, a voice rang out.
"Step back!" Pulling everyone out as they obeyed without a second thought.
Lia stood tall, her staff raised high, as she stood amidst the mages of the coalition, three beastkin sorcerers, four orc shamans, and herself. The call had been made by the head of the magic unit, the same shaman who had taught herself and Mira some things about magic and her particularly, some spells of the offensive nature.
A circle of glowing energy pulsed around the group as their magic intertwined. The air grew thick, charged with an almost suffocating energy, and then—
Flames erupted.
A wave of fire, massive and unstoppable, surged forward, devouring everything in its path.
Demons shrieked as their flesh bubbled and burned, their bodies turning to ash quickly. The once-green forest became a sea of blackened corpses and smoldering embers following the intense flames.
When the flames finally died down, the battlefield was left scarred and burned, the frontlines of the demon horde obliterated.
Lia trembled, breathing heavily, her body drenched in sweat as she stumbled backwards a bit.
For the first time in such a scale, she had unleashed magic meant for destruction. It took a while to prepare the magic, but it was worth it as they had taken down a few hundreds with that one spell.
Lance looked back at the destruction caused by the magic, admiring the effectiveness and destructiveness of magic. If only he could manage something of that nature, things would have been quite easier.