The sun awoke, and Axel with it.
All around him, the Summoned lay in droves, most having only recently fallen asleep.
He gently lowered Leora to the ground, sliding a nearby blanket beneath her and propping up her head. He waited for the sun to climb a little higher, then stood and left the camp with a few others to gather fallen pieces of wood they could fasten into shields. They also harvest plants whose stems could be woven into twine.
As others woke, they joined the effort. By the time they finished, they had crafted thirty-three shields and a couple of spears with the leftover twine — sticks with daggers bound to their ends.
With that duty done, everyone could do little more than wait anxiously for nightfall and consume nearly all of their rations.
Couldn’t fight on an empty stomach, after all.
When the time came, Lucas delivered one final rousing speech:
"Listen, and listen well. I know asking you to willingly put your life on the line may seem preposterous. I know some of you plan to use whatever chaos unfolds on this battlefield to run away..."
Lucas paused, drawing a deep breath before continuing:
"But... you must realize that if you retreat today, you’ll only be delaying the inevitable. The day we’ll have to fight the Goblin King draws nearer and nearer, and we have no chance unless we do it together. This is but one step toward that goal."
Lucas heaved a sigh, his tone darkening:
"I have to be honest... It’s almost certain that some of us will die..."
It was the first time Lucas had admitted it so directly. Anger and sadness smoldered in the eyes of many, but they had spent the last sixteen hours preparing.
Lucas’s voice remained solemn as he continued:
"Yet... even at the risk of death, I ask you to fight together and lay siege to this camp. However, asking you to die for the person to your left or right is not what I desire. What I am asking of you — what I am begging of you — is to think of your own survival."
His eyes narrowing with determination, Lucas surveyed the crowd.
"The only way you can survive is by fighting today, not retreating. Surviving this fight won’t matter if we lose, because then you’ll have no chance of facing the Goblin King alone. So..."
Lucas raised his voice, each word ringing across the camp:
"...Fight! Fight without regard for others if you must, but you must fight! For if you run away today, you’ll not only be killing yourself, but everyone else here! None of us are here by choice, but we are here nonetheless! And because we are here, we will not forsake the duty given to us — our duty to survive! So, follow the path to survival! We must fight! We will fight! We will not retreat! We will be victorious!"
Lucas drew his sword and leveled it toward the camp. Then, his voice once again calm, he ordered:
"Now, get into your positions. The signal for the battle will be their screams... Survive."
Before Axel could leave, Leora leaned close and breathed into his ear:
"Please... please survive."
"Yeah... You too."
***
Axel and the others in the assault group concealed themselves behind the closest black tree near the northern entrance.
He swept his gaze across the group, their faces obscured by the deepening shadows of night, and felt goosebumps prickle along his arms. He had been checking the task timer periodically, and each glance reminded him that the siege was creeping ever closer.
They waited.
And waited...
Together, they cast one final, longing glance toward the sunset veiled by the massive trees.
Then came the grating shriek of metal against metal.
’It’s begun.’
The diversion squad hammered the spare swords against one another, raking their blades together to create a deafening clamor. In no time, the gate swung open, revealing the beady eyes of the enraged goblins.
Axel heard Lucas bellow the order from the other side of the camp:
"Do not falter! The time is now!"
"KREEEEEeeeee!"
Axel’s body went rigid.
The goblins shrieked as they began to run, their numbers flooding toward the southern exit. Moments later, more screeches followed, and human screams began to intertwine with them.
Axel forced his trembling legs to bear his weight and took the first fateful step toward the camp.
He didn’t look back, but the crunch of leaves and whisper of disturbed brush behind him told him all he needed to know.
He wasn’t alone.
They were following.
Under the cloak of darkness, they stalked forward, slowly narrowing the distance to the camp’s wall. A full minute passed before they finally reached it.
Axel leaned forward and peered through the narrow cracks between the wooden planks. Inside, a sea of goblins surged wildly toward the south gate.
Even children ran among them.
He turned away, smothering any remnants of pity. There wasn’t room for it. Hesitation would get people killed.
Lucas had told them to wait — to hold back until they could strike at the enemy’s backline. But listening to the screams, listening to the slaughter, threatened to splinter Axel’s resolve.
He reached forward and wrenched the gate open just wide enough for them to slip through without exposing themselves.
They slipped into the camp and hunkered down behind a nearby tent.
Now that they were inside, their task was clear:
’Locate the greatest threats and eliminate them.’
After pausing to ensure they hadn’t been spotted, the group assessed their surroundings, trying to grasp the camp’s layout.
Axel peered around the edge of the tent.
The flickering torches lining the camp cast just enough light to reveal that most of the melee goblins had already departed. As expected, however, a few archers remained stationed inside the camp.
They would be the primary targets.
But there was something else...
’The goblin children...’
They were heading toward Axel’s group, likely believing this part of the camp offered safety.
He watched them approach, each step carrying them nearer to death.
Then, an infected hand missing a finger settled gently on his shoulder.
Axel turned to find Mikhail standing behind him.
"No mercy."
They hadn’t been particularly close, but even Mikhail could discern Axel’s unease.
’To be comforted by him of all people...’
Axel loathed himself for it.
’I truly am a coward.’
Still, he continued watching, paralyzed, as the goblin children wandered out of the torchlight and into the darkness surrounding them.
Guilt coiled within him, but it was quickly smothered beneath the rising tide of screams — both goblin and human.
"Now!" Axel commanded.
The eight of them burst forward, stepping directly into the path of the roughly fifteen goblin children.
"Kwee?"
One of them chirped.
They froze, wide-eyed and confused. Axel stared down into their beady eyes.
He was past the point of hesitation.
Past mercy.
He sprang forward and eviscerated the nearest child. For a heartbeat, the others — his allies and even the surrounding goblins — watched as the small body collapsed.
"Kweeeeeee!"
With that scream, their stupor shattered.
The children charged, screeching as they trampled over their fallen kin. But they were unarmed.
They never stood a chance.
Huang Gao impaled two with a single fluid strike. Connor followed, his axe cleaving through two of their necks in one brutal swing. Axel raised his blade and hammered it down on the next, splitting it nearly in half.
’Fragile.’
They were so... fragile.
It was over quickly.
The eight of them reaped the children like a scythe through dry wheat. Axel pounced on the last one and drove his blade through its chest.
Then came the consequence.
"Kreeeeeeee!"
A fresh roar from the adult goblins rolled through the camp, intensifying as they thundered straight toward them. Still hidden in darkness, Axel could only hope they had been right about the goblins’ poor vision.
If they were, it would buy them a little more time.
Axel snapped an order:
"Find cover! We need to take out the archers before more arrive!"
The team fractured, scattering toward the nearby tents. Axel wove through the narrow spaces between the structures, glancing behind him to ensure Ryon, Connor, and Mikhail had followed.
The others had scattered in different directions, threading through the camp and keeping out of the torchlight as best they could.
"Kreee! Kreee!"
Behind them, the goblins discovered the corpses and erupted into enraged screeches.
Axel glanced toward the southern entrance... and halted.
"What the hell..."
They had not accounted for this.
Axel had vaguely known of its existence, but not its true nature.
’Aether...’
Even without understanding it, he should have foreseen the possibility.
’How... how did I commit such an oversight?!’
He should have warned Lucas.
He simply hadn’t believed goblins — simple, stupid goblins — could command and understand something he himself couldn’t.
It was a catastrophic mistake.
A goblin in black robes loomed beside the entrance, surrounded by defenders. It gripped a book in one hand. Above the other, fire blossomed with unnatural brilliance, the flames ballooning larger by the second.
Axel let out a short, sharp laugh — equal parts awe and dread.
"Ha... So that’s how Aether works..."
The fire continued to expand until it abruptly hung motionless in midair. Then, the goblin snapped its hand forward, hurling the sphere of flame into the crowd.
It burst in a blinding flare.
Fire rampaged outward in every direction.
The screams swelled.
Axel stood frozen. The price of his ignorance was being paid in screams, and he was forced to watch as the debt came due.
Ryon cried out:
"What the hell is that?! Axel, what should we do?!"
His voice alerted the nearby goblins.
’Idiot.’
Axel knew they were out of time.
He ripped the fabric from a tent and hoisted it as a makeshift shield. Then, with a breathless yell, he charged, discarding stealth entirely.
"Kill it! Even if we die, we must kill it!"
The others followed, sprinting toward the goblin mage.
But the patrol behind them remained a threat.
Not even five seconds had passed since their presence had been revealed when an arrow hissed past Axel’s head and buried itself in Connor’s shoulder.
The large man buckled, gasping in pain.
Axel dropped to his knees and lunged toward him, hauling him behind a tent with shaking hands as more arrows sliced through the air overhead.
They were already suffering casualties, and they hadn’t even reached the main force.
And still, the worst was yet to come.