Steel and Mana
Chapter 418 – They Fly Now

Even though it was the coming of summer, the nights were still feeling chilly, especially in the broken remains of the mining town. Some of it was because of the northern winds, but most of it was because staying here was still... dangerous. To leave as soon as possible, the Avalonians were guiding the refugees beneath the massive figure of the Stormbringer while the area was being lit by its spotlights, turning night into day. After the first survivors had begun emerging, their figures looked weak and weathered, their eyes blinking against the sudden brightness, and they looked like ghosts crawling straight out of the underworld. At the same time, the Stormbringer quickly descended low enough for its ramp to hit the ground, allowing them to climb aboard, intending to bring the poor people away.

Kalash watched silently from the Lion's cockpit, his expression grim, his senses tingling, feeling that this wouldn't be this simple. Somehow, he could... tell. As his eyes moved across the people, he couldn't help but sigh, feeling sorry for them. They looked young and old at the same time. All of them were slow and malnourished; many of them could only walk for a long time when they were supported by younger ones or had to be carried outright. The ship's insides were already tight, but they wouldn't leave them behind, so every available cargo space had been cleared to make room.

"One hundred and twelve, by the last count," Nathel reported from the Seeker, positioned at the edge of the city ruins. "Some of them can't even walk. I counted at least thirty children; some were infants... But if I had to call, I would say the oldest of them isn't even thirty. They just look... devastated."

"Are they all out?" Polo asked, his voice grim as it came through the radio.

"Yes. I do not pick up any more signals down below."

"We’ll take all of them," Kalash cut in, "Still, Squad B, move in and make sure nobody remains behind!" He ordered, sending down a handful of Avalonians to check the underground tunnels.

Inside the Stormbringer, some of the crew were coming and going between the newcomers, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with the rescued, offering water and ration packs, and checking those who looked the worst. Warm blankets were hastily distributed, many survivors clutching them like treasure, mainly because they were fresh, smelling good... and soft—something some of them had never even experienced. One would expect that the air would be thick with silence, interrupted only by low sobs or the wheezing of a sick person... but instead, they were surprisingly loud, repeating prayers and looking at the Avalonians as if they were the messengers of the Gods. 

Something that a few of the Avalonians found eerie and creepy, but it all came to an actual silence soon.

Because the warning of Seeker's sensors flared up, alerting everybody.

"Incoming!" Nathel snapped. His voice was urgent now, the mech raising to its full height, turning towards the readings he picked up on. "Multiple heat signatures, and they are moving fast! Bearing due east... It is a horde. I am picking up hundreds of individual creatures!"

"Every soldier, return to the surface!" Kalash didn’t hesitate to give out orders: "Form battle lines on the eastern perimeter. We will hold them! Stormbringer, get those people aboard! Fast! Seeker, back with the Stormbringer, protect it!"

By the time he finished, half of the troops were already there, and the half-tracks were being transformed, with artillery pieces installed onto their open backs, doing it as second nature. By the time the eastern tree line, the first shadows surged forward, the first of the artillery began firing. The orange, magical fireballs soared high, exploding in the air to create a cluster of smaller ones that quickly began raining down on the crawling, leaping, galloping, totally misshapen creatures heading their way.

"Spear wall!" barked Lieutenant Orrel, leading the first wall of Avalonians, who immediately shifted places with those of their comrades who had spears or anything similar to their weapons. Each soldier at the front planted their feet, letting them sink into the ground, forming a tight phalanx between the monsters and the ship that was still being boarded by the refugees. "Full power, hold nothing back!"

At that moment, all of their weapons ignited with a crackling boom of magic. Some of the spears were coated in fire, some looked like frozen icicles, while others were suddenly dripping thick, syrup-like liquid that immediately began burning a hole in the ground when they dropped down. As the monsters hit the line, the impact was brutal, but the wall of spears held. A wolf-sized creature snapped at Orrel’s neck, stuck on his own electrified halberd, but he slammed it down with a shoulder bash before wrenching out his halberd to cleave an incoming second one into two pieces.

"Don't let them pass!" he shouted into his headpiece as the second wall of Avalonians attacked those who managed to jump over their comrades, welcoming them with swords, axes, and swinging sabers.

The melee became chaotic almost immediately. Still, the Avalonian soldiers were like the rocks on a shore, breaking the waves, cleaving limbs, and melting flesh off their bones. One flame-covered greatsword carved wide arcs, setting the ground ablaze around three that tried to move through their flanks, only to get slain a moment later. Next to it, acid-dripping blades hissed on contact, dissolving bone and fur alike. Another, with twin sabers, darted into the fray, his targets becoming encased in frost, leaving trails of shattered ice as he moved, slicing through tendons and eyes alike.

Of course, they weren't the only ones doing the job. Alongside the artillery, shooting over the line of Avalonians, the Rook had begun rotating its shoulder cannons, demolishing the backside of the incoming horde.

"I am spinning up the main gun," Polo’s voice warned the foot soldiers. "Stand clear!"

With a thunderous sound, sounding like furious, angry wasps, millions buzzing at the same time, he fired the weapon that was like the growl of Death itself. Maybe even these beastly animals could recognize it was the signal of their end as that one horizontal sweep felled dozens of them, tearing their bodies from limb to limb. Screeches became howls as creatures were blasted open by the impact of physical bullets, thrashing and crashing into each other, their viscera flying everywhere.

"Conserve it for any anti-magical variant!" Kalash reminded him coming up from the rear. Kalash's mech stood between the Seeker and the Rook, acting as a mid-line responder, stomping onto any of the beasts that managed to slip through. Inside, he already noted that it was evident they were trying to get to the Stormbringer. Its monster core was the strongest amongst those who were present... and it probably smelled the tastiest to these... small ones.

At the back, the Seeker was constantly monitoring the battlefield, and as the first wave was mercilessly slaughtered, so was the second. He began noticing a change. The small ones showed a much more noticeable intelligence than their monstrous variants. They started trying to flank the Avalonians, only to get caught by the Rook's flamethrower, making them boil and pop like water balloons. They even recognized that their assault was futile as he could see how the signatures in the distance began breaking off, simply turning away... fleeing.

"Thirteen percent of the horde eliminated," Nathel reported calmly. "Some of them are turning back, but... I’m marking a third wave... forty seconds out. Not all of them are giving up."

"We will hold," Kalash answered through the comms. "Status of the evacuation?"

"We’re almost at full capacity!" a voice returned from the Stormbringer. "Another thirty people to go, and we can take to the sky!"

"Then move faster!"

On the ground, the battle was still on. The third wave managed to get by simply because of the creatures spreading out at the last moment, feigning a head-on attack, just to change tactics at the last moment. Their opening revealed a cluster of hardened, bone-covered creatures, running on all fours, looking like actual rams, sending multiple Avalonian soldiers flying like ragdolls. One of them, landing hard on his back, found himself dizzy, disarmed, looking up at two stumpy legs going high as it was about to crash down on him. Yet, before the creature could strike, another soldier barrelled into it, his axe coated in frost, cleaving into the beast in a burst of blood and vapor, freezing them as they spilled out. His momentum was enough to topple the bastard over and allow his comrade to roll to the side, his hand reaching for his sword.

"Solren!" another shouted, hauling him up. "As your commander, I don't allow you to die!"

"Yes, Lieutenant!"

He was not the only one. Despite the injuries they suffered from the beasts' sudden, unexpected tactic, the Avalonians' armor held out, protecting their lives, even if their bones were broken under it.

Close to them, multiple repeater crossbows rang out, their bolts of bone-made heads landing in the underbelly of toppled beasts in rapid succession. Some of them even exploded on impact, and others sent arcing chains of lightning that jumped between monsters, frying them in clumps.

Inside the Stormbringer, the crew finally pulled the last survivors up the ramp, helping a boy with one leg, a woman carrying two infants, and an old man half-blind from spending all his years underground. The ship was finally full, and it immediately began pulling up the landing ramp, preparing to take to the sky.

"They’re all in!" the comm officer confirmed at once.

"Stormbringer, take flight!" Kalash ordered, "Fire the cannons the moment you lock on the horde! Kill as many as possible!"

The airship had already lurched upward, its formations making its underbelly shimmer. The people inside were scared and awed, watching from the small ports how dust swirled violently as the vessel rose, lifting higher and angling for its cannons to have a clear shot.

The monsters also noticed. From the furthest treeline, something emerged, a type of creature no Avalonians had seen before. They were winged variants—thin, batlike things that screeched as they took to the air and made for the rising Stormbringer.

"Fuck..." Kalash cursed angrily when they first saw flying bastards.

"Not today!" Polo growled.

The Rook's rotating gun roared to life immediately, following his training and aiming perfectly. Hundreds of rounds per minute tore through the night sky, shredding wings and bodies alike, causing the beasts to turn into clouds of blood and flesh. Then, the flamethrower on his other arm hissed again, catching any grounded creature that dared move near the retreating airship. The fire created a semicircle of burning soil, separating the mechs and Avalonians from the rest.

"Seeker, new priority!" Kalash called.

"On it," Nathel replied, already prepared. The shoulder arrays on his mech recalibrated, now tracking aerial targets and feeding them to the Rook. Then, his own long rifle rose, fully charged. "Down you go..." he whispered and fired. One winged creature vanished into white ash mid-air while another right behind it followed suit... and another... and another as his weapon made seven of them simply... disappear forever.

Finally, the Stormbringer also joined in, its cannons booming in a melodic sequence, bombarding the furthest away, setting the forest ablaze, and creating a fire that would rage for days to come.

"Start retreating!" Kalash ordered, watching as the half-tracks began moving first, followed by the foot soldiers.

As they began retreating, so did the horde, no longer rushing, at least not towards them.

"No more new waves." Nathel reported, "They are totally broken and are scattering."

"Don't relax," Kalash warned, scanning the burning treeline. "They used to test us with waves like this before the main one arrived to play."

"Keep moving." Polo joined in, "We will retreat before that happens. We got the people, and now the Stormbringer can give us proper coverage."

"Agreed," Nathel said. "We fall back to the secondary camp and then reorganize and treat our wounded."

"Mhm." Kalash nodded, talking into the open channel. "Full retreat!"

"Well..." Polo exhaled heavily inside his cockpit. "Well... that was a mess. But they're alive."

"That’s all that matters." Kalash agreed, finally letting himself smile a little.

Soon, the army left the ruined mining town behind, along with a burning forest and the scattered remains of several hundred beasts, as if to warn anyone who would find them.

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