Zool

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"Ready!"

MacKensie held her hand high, checking behind her to make sure the mages were casting. She could feel the tension in her soldiers as they held their bow and arrows in position. And then her delay was rewarded as a great many bows in The Rabbits' hands started to glow again. J'ai vous!

"Fire!"

It sounded like a drum roll as everyone released. A wave of arrows slashed the wind apart, comet-tails of flames on every third arrow. Orcs and goblins dropped dead or were pushed stumbling backward into the siege tower from which they appeared. A fire started inside the top of the siege tower and enemies pushed past their injured bretheren and tripped over the dead bodies to get out. MacKensie wished she could have taken advantage with another volley, but the tops of ladders appeared on the battlements, right in front of The Rabbits.

"Swords!"

Upon sighting the first opponents to climb up and onto the walls, right in front of her, she was taken aback to see not orcs or goblins, not dark elves or skeletons, but humans. She faltered for a second as her mind played her an intrusive memory of back in the Temple of Hades when she'd slit the throat of that cultist. No slaying of a mere beast. Murder. Her eyes squeezed almost shut as she summoned every ounce of determination and will power she could muster to banish her reservations.

"Give them no rest!"

The Rabbits pushed up against the battlements and fought to keep the corrupted tribesmen off the wall. Many enemies cried out as they fell all the way the ground. Some died to the defenders' blades. Some fought back viciously and stayed alive long enough to see one of their own climb up behind them and help. There was no way to stop the slowly increasing number of enemies on the walls. And now there was barely a block that were free enough to provide ranged support. MacKensie had stepped into the third rank as to not be embroiled in melee combat. She held both loaded crossbows and placed bolts in the spaces between her fingers, then activated her Deadly Flurry - blue flames dancing from her shoulders to the tips of her fingers - and then, with a blur, she machine-gunned off eight bolts in less than two seconds. With god-speed she continued, left hand holstering her crossbow, reaching into her pouch for a fistful of bolts that she released into the air in front of her. Her right hand, holding her primary weapon, came sweeping across the air, side-on, catching each bolt in the firing mechanism and letting it fly in lightning-quick succession. The entire Deadly Flurry move had started and finished within four seconds, resulting in fourteen dead enemies, each dropping with a bolt between the eyes.

MacKensie caught movement in her peripheral vision and did a double-take to see three Dark Elven Screamers come jumping off the outside of the siege tower and right onto The Rabbits. Their screams were blood-curdling and their dual wielding style was ferocious. The Rabbits on the flank didn't stand a chance. As one of her soldiers fell, MacKensie fired a shot off at the Screamer in retribution, but the dark elven woman parried the bolt out of the air and looked right at the block Captain. The three Screamers cut right through the din of battle with high pitched warcries, inciting fear. MacKensie jumped onto the battlements and ran along towards the new threat, reloading her crossbow, killing an enemy dwarf with her dagger, then firing said-crossbow, close range, at a human to clear a way. One more tribesman needed felling before MacKensie could get close enough to the Screamers to jump off the battlements and into melee combat with one of them.

The frenchwoman quickly realised that she was outmatched.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"Sacre bl..." Her whispered reaction to the sight of the teeming fields trailed off, but the surprise and distress in just the first word was apparent to Grimes, next to her.

The cascading sound of a succession of arrows nocking and bowstrings pulling to their maximum tensile strength. The booming voice of Commander Thorn sounding like the command had come from the heavens. "By your orders, Captain," the quiet but firm nudge from her second in command.

"Of course," MacKensie replied, giving a small and curt nod as her eyes followed a wave of arrows that rained down from a nearby block on the Right Wing, to shower the enemy unit of female knife wielding warriors who were following close behind a siege tower for cover. "Behind the siege tower! Aim!" She left a pause to give the Rabbits time to sight their mark. Then, "Fire!" A flurry of arrows released, MacKensie herself too letting fly a fire-infused bolt from her primary crossbow, before switching it out and drawing her left-handed secondary crossbow to let fly a ice-infused bolt. "Fire at will!"

Such was the Ranger's dexterity that she could continue to switch, in and out, each of her crossbows, reload them one at a time and fire off both bolts in about the same time that the average archer under her command could nock, draw, aim and release a single arrow. Magical forcefields appeared above the dark elven screamers, deflecting arrows in droves, but the multitude of arrows coming down from the entire Right Wing, coming from multiple angles, meant that many projectiles got past the shields and felled the unarmoured warriors by the dozens.

The Rabbits stayed focused, their Captain's eyes sighting another unit of screamers perhaps forty ranks back, following behind one of the trailing siege towers. It was a far distance, but MacKensie reckoned the target was just within range. She let her block get off another two waves of arrows on the heavily-dwindled advanced unit of screamers, before taking control once more. "Hold your fire!" The battle not long since started and she'd already shouted more than she'd ever had to since childhood arguments with her little brother Xander. She wasn't used to it, but she was not self-conscious about it either. The adrenaline of the moment was enough to carry her through. "The furthest siege tower on the right! More screamers behind! Ready!" Again; that rolling cascade of multiple arrows nocking and bowstrings stressing. "Aim!" The shifting of leather and steel armour as all archers lifted their sights forty-five degrees for maximum distance. "Fire!"

The siege tower that arrived first to the wall, on the Right Wing, did not park itself in front of the Rabbits, but close by, maybe two blocks away. MacKensie called for attention and readied her block to fire upon it. The Rabbits waited for the door to fall open and bridge the gap to the wall and as the orcs and goblins came charging across the gangplank, they were met with a hail of arrows in their flank. Dead enemies, mostly goblins, fell from the height as the Rabbits readied again. Numberless more orcs and goblins appeared from inside the siege tower.

"Aim for the neck!" MacKensie ordered, noting that the heavy amrour of the orcs was non-existent in this one deadly area. "Fire!"

It didn't matter how many fell. More appeared. And the sea of enemies in the field below seemed unending.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Sorry I'm late! Posted and ready to go xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Why? Of all nights to fall asleep in the halls of the Citadel... it had to be the very same night that the assault would begin. MacKensie pushed through the crowds of citizens and militia in the hall, ignoring the calls for calm and order. One hand was up, leading her way, a gentle push here, a turn of the shoulders there. Her other hand held - tightly to her side - her weapons belt, hanging from which was her two crossbows, dagger and pouch of bolts. Strangely, she felt the missing weight of her cloak that she'd given to the boy. Perhaps it was just her paranoia and caution in the wake of battle, making her feel naked without it, or in some way lesser. No matter. As long as she had a weapon - any weapon - her required presence as a leader bid that she hurry.

She barged through the door without stopping to close it, out into the cool night air, finally clipping her belt around her waist and adjusting it so that her weapons were at the ready. She hadn't any idea what time it was. She only knew how far she was from the Rabbits' rendezvous point, which was to say; Extremely far. About as far away as one could be, in fact. The streets atop Citadel Mountain were chaotic as mages, guards and the citadel soldiers rushed around. MacKensie was about to stop someone for directions when the light of the flare shooting into the sky caught her eye. "That way," she said aloud to herself.

There was no time to use the long-winded roads to get down from the mountain. She made a beeline northeast, running as fast as she could, making her way between buildings, climbing walls, jumping gates, until she found herself looking out onto the city, a steep drop before her. She stopped to briefly scan the vista ahead and the mountainside below, then burst into action.

Straight down to the city.

It started with a few jumps down the slopes to outcroppings of rock, but quickly became a straight sprint - almost vertical - down the cliffside. Pure footspeed, mixed with some smart skipping and face-down abseiling with her magical grapplehook - This is what kept her stuck to the mountain. But defying gravity this way only minimized her acceleration, it did not stop it completely, and soon she was approaching freefall speeds that even her feet could not keep up with. And so - in the blink of an eye and a single step - she bent her knees, planted her feet and sprung from the cliffside into a soaring nose-dive.

One hundred feet above the rooftops? Two hundred feet? Five hundred feet? Who knew? Whatever it was, it was a distance that quickly vanished when falling through the air. With pinpoint precision and timing, MacKensie fired the beam/wire of blue light at the corner of a tall building, turning her fall straight downward into a curving swing that took all the speed and momentum of freefall and turned it northbound, her grapplehook releasing so she could fire again, ahead, as she soared through the air, and swung again. She had truly become like Spiderman.

Don't think... feel.

This was the mantra that allowed her to manage this new sense of speed, agility, reflexes and perception. Thinking rationally was far too slow to govern her body when dealing with the upper limits of the magical gauntlet's function. It had to be instinctive. The magical grapplehook and beam/wire was attached to her very nervous-system. To try and use it like a tool would be like having to actually think to control one's breathing - it was simply untenable. But to master it as an extension of herself was what made MacKensie Trydant no ordinary Ranger. No ordinary adventurer. She was a hero from another world.

Don't think... feel.

The northern wall ahead was reached in a few swings - between each swing she sailed a great distance too. And as she sailed, she managed to look to her right and see the chaotic magical battle that had begun along the northeastern sections of the city walls. The northmost, tallest building was when she fired her grapplehook to the roof and held on tight as she swung around the corner, the centrifugal force threatening to tear her left arm from her socket. Her body found the eastward vector she was looking for and the grapplehook released, sending her once more sailing through the air at high speed toward her destination.

Not long now...

For the part of Gregory Grimes, Sergeant First Class and second-in-command of The Rabbits… he was keeping the soldiers in line and cohesion. The Rabbits moved around the vicinity of the rendezvous point, keeping clear the streets of any ghouls that hot-dropped into the area.

When the blue breeze that was the captain was the one to appear from above, Grimes was quick to act.

“Ten Hut!” he shouted powerfully. “Captain's here!” MacKensie ran over to the block and Grimes anticipated what she was about to say from the look on her face. He cut her off before she could apologise. “Your orders, Captain.”

She stumbled over her apology and he shot her a glare - one so complex with warmth and well-meaning, but urgency and demand. She seemed to get the message and hardened her expression.

“To the walls!” was the command. “Let’s go! Remember your positions!”

Grimes couldn’t help but feel a note of pride in his heart for the strength and steel of her voice. The hero from another world had always had it in her, but Grimes had helped to bring it out of her in their time together. She was ready to lead them. And with her innate power, he had some hope that they might just survive this threat.

But he was an experienced soldier and one who had already seen battle in this war. He knew that the odds were slim. This would not be easy.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

I will try to finish my post tonight. Most of it is done already.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Lol I definitely put on a few pounds myself. Just sooo many get-togethers due to the hubby's mother's birthday being two days after Christmas too and his sister always hosting a New Year party for the family. With our tour of my huge-ass family on top of that, it was just a constant food-fest. And you've probably heard how the Irish like to drink so I needn't say more on that lol xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Hello! xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Have a great night tomorrow xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

<Snipped quote by AvaP>

seems like a pretty plain hobby to me

@Saiyan

I don't think another pun war is going to take off, Saiyan.

@xenon

Booooo! Not this again. It's like a bi-annual event for you boys >:(

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@AvaPOh my gosh. Wow. What's that like? How long have you been doing this kind of thing? That's amazing xD