The End?

Just as Gerald was about to say something else, the ground shook.

Not a tremor, a violent jolt that rattled the infirmary windows and sent medical supplies clattering off shelves.

"What the—" Helena grabbed the wall for support.

Another shake. Stronger this time. Dust rained down from the ceiling beams.

Then the screaming started. Distant at first, but growing rapidly louder. Shouts of panic, the clash of metal, roars that didn't sound human.

Jay limped to the window despite his injured arm, looked outside, and went completely white.

He stumbled backward, his back hitting the wall as he slid down to sit, one trembling finger pointing toward the glass.

"No... no no no..."

Gerald and I rushed to the window. 

And what I saw made my blood turn to ice.

The town was being overrun.

Monsters poured through the streets in numbers I couldn't even begin to count. Maybe thousands. 

Every type I'd seen in the dungeon and dozens more - wolves, orcs, golems, goblins, golems, things with too many limbs or no recognizable shape at all. They crashed through buildings, tore apart market stalls, dragged screaming civilians into alleys.

Adventurers were fighting desperately in clusters throughout the town, but they were massively outnumbered. For every monster that fell, three more took its place. The defensive walls had already been breached in multiple locations, and the horde just kept coming.

CRASH!

A golem smashed through a building two streets over. The structure collapsed, burying everything beneath it.

"Dungeon break?" Gerald whispered, his voice hollow. "But how?... This is... There aren't any dungeons nearby."

"Impossible," Helena finished. Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold her staff. "No dungeon produces these many monst—"

Another violent shake cut her off. 

Then Gerald grabbed his sword from where it leaned against the wall, wincing as he strapped on his battered armor. 

"Are you crazy?" I stared at him. "You can barely stand."

He buckled the last strap and met my eyes. "Then look around. Do I have any choice?" His voice was sharp, edged with barely controlled fear. "Will this end if I stay here?"

"You'll die out there."

"I'll die even if I cower in here!" Gerald hissed, jabbing a finger toward the window where screams and destruction continued. "Those things will crawl through every building, kill everyone they see. Nothing is safe. At least out there I can fight."

He picked up his helmet, then paused at the door. "Stay if you want. But I've got people I need to protect."

The door slammed behind him.

Helena stood frozen by the window, her staff clutched in white-knuckled hands. Jay hadn't moved from where he'd collapsed against the wall, his eyes still fixed on nothing.

Outside, the sounds of battle intensified. A building collapsed somewhere close by, the impact shaking our infirmary.

Rei pressed against my side. "What are we going to do?"

I looked at my hands, still shaking from exhaustion, my body barely functional. Then at the window, where Gerald was already visible in the street below, running toward a cluster of civilians being herded by goblins.

'He's right. Staying here won't save us.'

But going out there in my condition was suicide. I could barely stand, let alone fight.

Wrath was still sealed from whatever that thing had done. I had Rei and my own failing body against a horde that was drowning the entire town in blood.

Helena straightened. 

"I'm going too."

She grabbed her staff and what remained of her gear, not waiting for a response. The door slammed behind her.

I stood frozen, my hands clenched so tight my nails drew blood from my palms. Every instinct screamed at me - run, hide, survive. I was barely functional, my mana depleted, my body held together by sheer stubbornness.

'Going out there is suicide.'

But staying here while people died wasn't exactly a winning strategy either.

Jay limped over, pulling a healing potion from his belt with his good hand. He pressed it into my palm. "Take it. Then run south with full speed. Don't look back."

I stared at him, baffled. "What about you?"

He just patted my shoulder, a sad smile crossing his face. "I'll make sure those bastards don't catch up with you."

Before I could protest, he took a dagger in his other hand and jumped through the window, his injured body hitting the street below. I heard his battle cry cut through the chaos as he engaged the nearest cluster of goblins.

'Fuck. Fuck!'

I looked back at the bed where Aria still lay unconscious. The infirmary had protective arrays - I could see the faint shimmer of magical barriers between the beds. Teleportation wards that would activate if monsters breached the building, sending patients to safe zones.

She'd be protected. I looked outside again at the burning streets, the screaming.

"Fuck," I said aloud, uncorking the potion and draining it in one gulp.

The exhaustion didn't fade, but at least my body would hold together for whatever came next.

I climbed onto the window ledge, took one breath, and jumped.

[Dash!]

I blurred forward as I landed, my blade already drawn. Four goblins clustering around a fallen civilian never saw me coming. My sword carved through the first two in a single arc, and momentum carried me into the others.

SLASH! SLASH!

All four dropped before they could even raise their weapons.

Rei appeared beside me, its voice tight with fear. "This is insane. We're going to die."

"Probably," I agreed, already moving toward the next cluster of monsters. "But if we're dying anyway, might as well make it count."

The battle for Ironhold had begun, and I was throwing myself into the meat grinder with everyone else.

I pushed forward through the chaos, using [Dash] to blur between clusters of enemies. My blade found goblin throats, wolf flanks, anything that got in my way.

SLASH!

Two goblins went down, their crude weapons clattering uselessly to the cobblestones.

[DING!]

[Level Up!]

I rolled under a wolf's leap, coming up with [Quick Strike] that opened its belly. The creature hit the ground twitching.

[DING!]

[Level Up!]

The stat increases hit like shots of adrenaline, pushing back the exhaustion. My muscles felt lighter, my reactions sharper. I carved through a pack of goblins that had cornered a group of civilians, my blade moving almost faster than I could track.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Five bodies hit the ground.

[DING!] [DING!]

[Level Up!] [Level Up!] 

I spotted Gerald ahead, his sword work efficient but desperate as he held a chokepoint between two buildings. A dozen monster corpses lay around him, but more kept coming.

He saw me approaching and actually grinned despite the blood running down his face. "Decided to show up, huh? The Lone Wolf himself."

"Seemed rude to let you have all the fun," I said, falling in beside him. 

Gerald laughed, actually laughed in the middle of battle. "Fun? Kid, your definition of fun is seriously messed up. I like it."

I frowned.

Another wave of goblins crashed against our position. Gerald and I moved in sync, our blades finding gaps in each other's defense, covering angles the other couldn't reach.

We pushed forward together, cutting through the horde. Gerald took point with his shield, creating openings. I used [Dash] and [Reaper's Step] to appear where enemies least expected, my blade finding weak points.

Civilians ran past us in panic, families clutching children, elderly being carried by younger neighbors. Buildings burned around us, the eastern district collapsing into rubble as golems smashed through centuries-old structures.

CRASH!

A three-story tavern collapsed nearby, burying everything beneath it in dust and debris.

Helena appeared through the smoke, her staff crackling with purple energy. 

"Found you!" She unleashed a bolt of force that scattered a pack of wolves. "The western gate's been breached too. They're everywhere."

"Stay close!" Gerald said. "We push to the main square, help whoever we can!"

The three of us moved as a unit now. Gerald's shield blocked, I struck from angles the monsters couldn't defend, and Helena's magic hammered anything that got too close.

[DING!]

[Level Up!] 

We reached the fountain square where a group of adventurers had formed a defensive circle around maybe thirty civilians. Goblins and wolves pressed from all sides, testing for weaknesses.

"Reinforcements!" someone shouted when they saw us.

We crashed into the horde's flank. Gerald's sword work was brutal efficiency, each strike dropping an enemy. Helena's spells created zones of destruction that forced the monsters to scatter. I wove between them with [Evasion] active, my blade finding throats and hearts.

For a moment, it felt like we were winning. The monsters pulled back, regrouping.

That's when the larger creatures arrived.

Three golems pushed through the smaller monsters, their stone bodies intact and rune-lights burning green. Behind them, a pack of those six-legged dire wolves came.

"Fuck," Gerald breathed. "That's too many."

"We hold here!" Helena's voice cracked slightly. "We have to hold!"

The golems charged.

Gerald met the first one head-on, his shield taking the impact with a sound like a hammer on an anvil. But he was already exhausted, already wounded. The force drove him backward, his boots scraping across cobblestones.

I engaged the second golem with Rei's help, shadow darts blinding it while I targeted the rune clusters. My blade sparked off stone as I searched for weak points.

Helena focused on the third, her magic hammering its chest. Runes shattered under the assault, but not fast enough.

The dire wolves circled around, looking for openings.

Gerald’s shield arm was trembling, every breath ragged. The golem hammered forward, each strike forcing him back another step. 

Then another came near the group of huddled civilians and raised its fist and brought it down.

Then...

Thump!

Gerald threw himself between them and the other golem.

"I'm still here big guy." He said through a grin.

Now both golems focus was on him.

Then began raining down punches, and he took them all, till the civilians were still moving,

“Gerald!” Helena screamed, her voice was on the verge of breaking. “Fall back!”

But he just shook his head, teeth clenched, blood running down his temple. “Can’t!”

Then the first golem raised its fist.

Gerald roared and lifted his battered shield one last time.

The impact was deafening.

CRACK!

The shield exploded into shards of metal and splinters of wood. Though the fist didn’t stop, it plowed through the wreckage and into Gerald’s chest.

I heard the snap of ribs even over the chaos.

---------------

His body lifted from the ground, thrown like a ragdoll and struck the edge of the fountain with a sickening thud and crumpled there.

Blood pooled beneath him, black against the stone.

His eyes found mine through the chaos, barely focused, already fading. His lips moved, forcing out words that cost him everything he had left.

"Keep 'em... safe..." Blood bubbled at the corner of his mouth. "Wolf..."

Then his eyes went still.

For a heartbeat, the battle itself seemed to pause. No one spoke. No one breathed.

Then Helena's scream tore through the silence. "NO!"

She turned toward the golem that had killed him, and something in her expression went from grief to pure, incandescent rage.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!"

Purple energy erupted around her in waves I'd never seen before. Her staff blazed with light so bright it hurt to look at directly.

"Arcane Fury!"

The spell hit the golem like a meteor strike. Stone exploded, runes dying in cascades. The creature's entire torso simply disintegrated under the assault.

But Helena wasn't done. She pivoted toward the dire wolves, her face twisted in fury and tears.

"Chain Lightning!"

Electricity arced between them, frying six wolves in seconds. The smell of burned flesh filled the air.

"Force Wave"

The remaining wolves scattered like leaves, some slamming into walls hard enough to shatter bone.

Helena was screaming wordlessly now, magic pouring out of her in uncontrolled bursts. Every spell was overkill.

A goblin pack tried to rush her. She obliterated them.

She was burning through mana at a suicidal rate, but she didn't seem to care. Didn't seem to feel anything except the need to kill everything that moved.

'She's going to kill herself casting.'

I finished off my golem and ran toward her. "Helena! Stop!"

She didn't hear me. Or didn't care. Another massive spell was building around her staff, targeting a cluster of monsters near the civilians.

If she cast that at full power this close, she'd kill civilians and monsters alike.

'Fuck.'

Before I could reach Helena, darkness engulfed everything.

Not the natural darkness of night, this was absolute. A void that swallowed light, sound, movement. The battle noise cut off mid-scream. The flames froze mid-flicker. Everything just... stopped.