Chaos in the farmlands

Just as the distance between us shrank and we were only six feet apart, the Widow Maker lunged toward me with its jaw wide open, revealing rows of sharklike teeth. And just like that, I found my opening.

I shoved my sword deep into its mouth as we collided, but the sheer impact of the creature barreling into me sent me flying backward. I was knocked onto my back on the ground, only a few feet away from the struggling creature, which now had my broadsword jutting out from its mouth.

Reddish-green blood poured out of the thing’s mouth as the monster swung its head from side to side, trying to force the steel out of its throat. However, I couldn't celebrate just yet. I needed to utilize the brief moment of distraction to gain the upper hand over the beast.

"Rachel," I called out to my AI companion in my head, getting to my feet while still watching the creature as it struggled to pull out my sword.

"Three minutes and twenty-five seconds," Rachel replied, anticipating my request before I even asked it. "You have three minutes and twenty-five seconds before you can summon another item. Twenty-three now, twenty-two, twenty-one..."

"Damn," I muttered. I couldn't wait that long to summon another weapon. I needed one now.

"Hunter! Look out!"

I instinctively rolled out of the way just as something came flying in my direction. I initially thought it was the creature that might have somehow managed to free itself from my sword and was now trying to attack me. But when I looked up, I only found a body sprawled on the ground. He must have been one of the volunteers who had ridden along with us to help the farmers.

A Widow Maker must have bitten down on him, crushed his heart with its teeth, and thrown him across the field. He was bleeding from the chest, no signs of life. For his sake, I hoped it was a quick death. I couldn't imagine the pain of slowly dying for a punctured heart.

He still had his weapons with him, a bow in his hand and a quiver with some arrows left. Well, I didn’t remember being particularly religious in my previous life, otherwise, I would have said a short prayer for him right then. Instead, the least I could do was avenge him with his own tools.

I rushed toward him and loaded up on his weapons. I reached for an arrow, knocked it, then aimed it at the creature which, surprisingly, still had my sword sticking out of its mouth. I smirked. It had already lost a lot of blood and was becoming visibly weak. Taking it down was going to be a whole lot simpler.

***

Meanwhile, Lumia was focused on doing her part.

She had continued riding the horse forward as Hunter had instructed, moving ahead for an additional two and a half yards before she made a turn and began to circle the field. She checked, and there were no Widow Makers chasing after her.

She completed the turn and rode down the far side of the farmlands, making her way toward the barns ahead of her where she hoped the injured people inside were still alive.

From the corner of her vision, she saw Hunter running toward one of the six-legged beasts which was also rushing toward him. He had a sword and the clothes on his back, but that was it. Unlike most of the knights and volunteers from town, Hunter wasn’t wearing any armor. He had on a brown coat jacket and a pair of very strange-looking trousers and boots.

She had no doubt his lack of any sort of armor or protection contributed greatly to the injuries he suffered in the time he spent in the Slayer’s Forest shortly before coming to town. Although she was starting to worry for his safety, she could only pray that he came out of the fighting alive. She had to stay focused. She had her own part to play.

Approaching the back of one of the barns, she slowed the horse to a trot before eventually stopping by a tree and climbing down. Securing the horse to the trunk, she then hurriedly made her way to the back of the first barn and repeatedly slapped her hands against the door while she called for the people inside to open up.

While she waited, she could hear the chaos of the battlefield, of soldiers screaming, and the guttural growls of the Sigumanju as they attacked the volunteers and troopers. The whole thing made her heart pound with fear, and she really wished everybody fighting to save the farmers would somehow come out unscathed, even though, deep down, she knew that wouldn't be the case.

Finally, the wooden back door of the barn was unlocked, and a scared mother holding her baby held it open for her to enter.

There were so many people. All of them scared, all of them hiding. There was livestock inside as well, cows, goats, a few horses, chickens. She began asking around for the injured, as many of them already knew she was a healer. Then she saw a man who was bleeding from the side of the head, and she quickly rushed over to help him.

The man was seated on the ground by the front doors of the barn. He rested his back against the wall and was breathing heavily. Lumia came to a squatting position in front of him and began to apply her magic to the side of his head. Outside, the battle raged on and didn’t seem to be coming to a stop.

Through the gaps in the wooden planks that formed the main Barn doors, Lumia could see Hunter shooting a barrage of arrows at a Widow Maker which had a sword sticking out of its mouth. The creature seemed to have lost a lot of blood, and Hunter was now trying to finish it off as quickly as he could.

"Be careful," she whispered, saying a quiet prayer.

She returned her attention to the man she was healing. He was unconscious, but stable. He was also no longer bleeding out.

Seeing this, Lumia got to her feet and rushed to head out the back door. After glancing around the room and confirming no one else was hurt, she pushed open the door and stepped out, telling the people to lock up behind her before running in the direction of the next barn.

***

I had two arrows left in the quiver I was carrying, but I wasn’t the least bit worried. The creature I had been fighting still tried to attack me even with my sword firmly lodged in its throat, so I proceeded to nearly empty my supply by shooting a steady stream of arrows at its face.

Most of my shots found home in the side of its neck, but some of them ended up in its eyes. The thing had lost a lot of blood and was gradually slowing down as a result, making it rather easy to dodge its attacks while I pressed on with my assault. Now that it was almost down for the kill, I needed to finish it off and go help the others.

From where I stood, I could see that the vanguard had taken down one of the three Widow Makers they had been fighting. There were dozens of spears sticking out of the thing’s body and it was now lying on its side, lifeless.

The thing had also taken a bunch of arrows to the face from an archer in the company, and it was probably trying to run away when one of the knights jabbed his spear into the side of its neck. But even after suffering significant casualties just to kill one of the creatures, there were still two other Widow Makers they had to deal with.

I turned my attention back to the downed Widow Maker in front of me and began to walk forward. The thing couldn’t even stand anymore. It was rapidly bleeding out on the ground, and I needed to get my sword.

I reached for an arrow from the quiver resting on my back and held it in my hand. “Careful,” Rachel said in my head, but I was already cautious.

I strolled to where it lay on the ground. Gripping the arrow I held tightly, I shoved it, deep into its remaining eyes, over and over again. Then I dropped my bow and pulled out the sword from its mouth, causing a wave of blood to gush out from its throat.

It was no longer moving. I didn’t need to do anything else. When I lifted my head up to observe how the rest of the vanguard was performing however, I almost lost my balance and dropped my sword.

They were dead. All of them.

Out of the twenty soldiers that had responded to help the farmers, only three people remained. A monster hunter who was a woman, a knight from the temple, and an ordinary civilian who just wanted to help. The rest of the field was littered with the bodies of dead horses and people, too many to count. The remaining two Widow Makers, however, were now slowly closing in on the survivors for the kill.

The woman tried standing her ground as one of the creatures approached her. She rushed forward to attack, and was skewered through the face an instant later by the creature’s massive stinger. Her hands fell limply by her sides, her weapon falling to the grass. She was dead before she could even hit the dirt.

The temple knight tried crawling away from the other Widow Maker slowly following him, but the creature suddenly sprang forward, pinning him in place before lifting its massive front legs and using them to simply beat the man into the ground. The sounds of his screaming and bones breaking would forever haunt my nightmares.

I found myself unable to move or think. I just stood there, watching the horrors as they transpired in front of me. There was nothing I could do. There was no way I could take on both monsters at the same time when a single one was already a handful.

Adding to the hopelessness of the situation, there were still people hiding in the barns. Men, women, children, all of whom had been counting on us to take them back home to their families.

We had failed them.

I didn’t know if backup were on their way yet, and if they were, they weren’t close.

I guess this was game over then, I thought, dropping my sword and picking up the bow instead.

I took the last arrow from the quiver resting on my back and nocked it. I aimed it at the two remaining Widow Makers who had turned their attention to the civilian volunteer lying on the ground, too injured to even move. Then I released the string and watched as the arrow zipped forward and struck one of the creatures in its leg.

I wasn’t even trying to kill the thing. I was trying to get their attention. And it worked.

They both turned around simultaneously and saw me standing there. I didn’t have a secret plan; I didn’t possess a hidden technique I was waiting to unleash at the very last moment. I just wanted to buy as much time as I could for the cavalry to arrive. That is, if they were even coming.