The players continued to push forward.
One step.
Then another.
The first line moved like a wall, shields low and spears ready. Mud clung to their boots, reeds brushed against their legs, and stones still rattled around them from time to time, but the chaos from the first exchange had faded.
The players had found their rhythm.
"Left side, close the gap!"
"Second line, watch the rabbits!"
"Third line, prepare support!"
Orders passed through the player formation one after another. They were no longer panicking. Now they were getting used to moving together.
The first line endured.
The second line struck.
The third line began to act.
A rabbit rushed toward a shield-bearer's leg, only for a faint blue barrier to suddenly appear before the player's knee.
BANG.
The rabbit crashed face-first into it and bounced backward, rolling twice across the mud before lying still with its paws twitching. Another rabbit hurried over, bit its ear gently, then dragged it away with the serious expression of a battlefield medic.
Or at least, as serious as a rabbit could look while dragging another rabbit by the ear.
Another rabbit leapt through a gap, only to be met by a player in the third line raising two fingers.
"Bind!"
At the command, a rope of light shot forward and wrapped around the rabbit midair.
"Squeak?!"
The rabbit froze in the air, eyes wide, body dangling like a criminal caught red-handed. Then another player thrust a spear toward it.
Fortunately, a chicken slammed into the spear shaft at the last moment.
SLASH.
The attack missed, cutting only a few strands of white fur before the rabbit dropped into the grass and fled with the speed of a creature that had seen its entire life flash before its eyes.
Nearby, a translucent barrier flickered before a wounded shield-bearer just as a lizard's claws came down toward his face.
CLANG.
The lizard's strike bounced off.
The player behind the barrier staggered, pale-faced, then shouted, "Nice save, dude!"
"Keep your shield up, idiot! Thank me later! I have other people to save!"
Another player swept his hand forward.
A crescent of wind tore across the clearing at just the right moment. It no longer hindered their allies like before, instead cutting through reeds and grass cleanly. Three snakes that had been about to emerge were forced to retreat, their bodies twisting desperately as the invisible blade shaved scales from their backs.
A second spell followed.
Then a third.
Fire sparked in the damp air, causing a chicken charging through the grass to suddenly find flames blooming before it.
"CLUCK?!"
It flapped backward in horror, feathers puffing out until it looked twice as round. Several nearby chickens also stopped, clearly wary of the flames.
The players cheered.
"Hahaha, take this, you bastards!"
"Push them back!"
Aelius stood near the center, sword raised, golden hair bright beneath the forest light.
"Good job, third line!" she called. "Do not waste your mana on every strike. Use it only when they are in danger!"
Her command was clear, and the players obeyed. As they began using their talents properly, the creature army slowed again.
A small lizard crashed into a reed patch, blood leaking from its shoulder. A snake twisted away from a burning patch of grass, its body smoking faintly. Two rabbits dragged a wounded chicken away by its wings while the chicken shouted furious clucks, apparently complaining about the terrible quality of emergency transport.
Richard's eyes moved over the battlefield.
Or more precisely, toward the players' third line.
There, behind the shield wall, several players had been chanting since the battle began. Their hands were raised, faint light gathering between their palms. The air around them thickened. Puddles rippled outward as if struck by invisible rain.
Aelius's lips curved upward. Then she laughed in an exaggerated manner, lifting her sword toward the retreating creatures.
"Hahaha! Show them the big one!"
The chanting players trembled. Their Goddess had spoken. Immediately their focus sharpened.
The light gathering between their hands grew brighter and brighter.
Richard's gaze sharpened.
Now was the time.
His will struck through the hidden thread like thunder.
'Lizard, now!'
For a heartbeat, the left side of the clearing remained silent.
Then the ground exploded.
Mud, roots, reeds, and broken leaves burst upward as the black-scaled lizard charged from the shadows. One moment, the left side of the player formation was focused on the creatures before them. The next, a black shape tore out from the trees like a piece of night given claws.
"What the-"
The first player did even not finish speaking as the black-scaled lizard slammed into him.
BANG.
His F-rank shield folded inward as his body flew backward into the second line, knocking two players down like wooden pins.
Then the roar came.
"GRAAAAA!"
The sound rolled across the clearing, deep, savage, and full of the old ferocity that had once made it the ruler of lizards.
The third line faltered. Five of the chanting players looked left. Their gathered spell trembled.
One of them shouted, "Don't stop chanting!"
The black-scaled lizard's tail swept across the ground.
Three players were struck at once. One was thrown into a tree. Another crashed into a shield-bearer, breaking the left edge of the formation. The third flew directly into the group maintaining the spell.
The light shattered.
The half-formed magic burst apart in a harmless wave, scattering sparks across the damp ground.
The lizard had opened the side.
Richard's eyes flashed as the golden threads pulsed.
Snakes surged toward the broken left flank. Rabbits changed direction. Chickens leapt from behind reed patches. Lizards hidden in the mud followed their black-scaled leader, crashing into the exposed side of the player formation.
The left line buckled.
"First line, hold as much as possible!" Aelius shouted. "Second line, support them without getting too close!"
Her eyes locked onto the black-scaled lizard.
A sharp light flashed through them.
"Third line, engage with me!"
It was as if she had been waiting for it to appear. Aelius sprinted toward the black-scaled lizard, her sword glowing faintly.
At that moment, the black-scaled lizard struck again, only to be met by a blue wall that appeared before it.
The lizard smashed into it headfirst.
CRACK.
The barrier trembled. The player maintaining it screamed, both hands shaking.
The black-scaled lizard pulled back.
For a brief moment, the player behind the barrier sighed in relief. Then the lizard turned sideways and slammed its tail into the barrier instead.
BANG.
The barrier shattered and the player's face went pale.
"Holy shit."
He still raised his shield, trying to block the incoming attack, but to no avail.
Light burst upward.
Seeing the players distracted by the black-scaled lizard, the other creatures did not miss their chance.
A snake dragged a fallen player's wrist at the same moment a rabbit bit his ear.
"MY EARS FUCK CAN'T YOU ATTACK ANYWHERE ELSE?!"
The rabbit did not answer.
Its mouth was full.
Then the lizard finally finished him.
Eighth.
A chicken landed on a healer's shoulder and began pecking at her hair with grim determination. The healer screamed and stumbled.
Ninth.
The left side of the formation started collapsing.
Aelius turned sharply.
"Keep formation! Make space for us to fight the black lizard!"
Several players had already moved toward the left side of the formation.
The black-scaled lizard clawed around a barrier, hooking the player's leg from the side and yanking him off balance.
A rabbit immediately jumped onto the fallen player's stomach.
The rabbit screamed at his face.
"SQUEAAAA!"
The player screamed back.
Tenth death.
Another player disappeared beneath snakes and mud.
Eleventh.
Richard's army surged with renewed strength. The players were no longer pushing. They were bending again.
Aelius gritted her teeth, her sword glowing brighter as she finally arrived.
"MAKE SPACE! FOCUS ON SUPPORTING US!"
The players obeyed immediately.
The third line supports moved back.
The second line shifted to cover.
Barrier users focused on the black-scaled lizard instead of wasting defense on smaller attacks. Spellcasters moved farther apart. The shield-bearers near the left side stopped trying to advance and instead began forming a half-circle to contain the monster.
William, Aelius, Lars, and several other elite players began fighting the black-scaled lizard directly while the rest supported them.
William moved first.
His fist shot forward, wrapped in force.
The black-scaled lizard twisted its head aside.
BOOM.
The punch struck its shoulder instead of its skull, but the force still made its massive body slide half a step across the mud.
Richard's eyes narrowed.
'So they had grown this much in a week?' he thought grimly.
Aelius soon followed, her sword flashing.
SHHINK.
A thin red line opened across the lizard's leg.
The black-scaled lizard's eyes widened, then narrowed into slits.
A growl rolled from its throat.
Lars rushed in from the side, shield raised.
"Come on, ugly! Remember me?!"
The black-scaled lizard answered by snapping its jaws toward him.
Lars barely blocked.
BANG.
His shield dented slightly, and his boots sank into the earth from the impact, but he stayed rooted in place.
"Ugh!" Lars shouted through gritted teeth. "Guys, do your thing! I might not be able to block for long!"
William appeared beside the lizard again.
Another punch.
The lizard ducked lower than something its size seemed to allow as its tail swept out.
William jumped out of the way, while Aelius slid through the wet ground, staining her pure white clothes. Lars, however, did not have time to dodge as the tail smashed right into his shield, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.
"Lars!" Aelius shouted.
"I'm fine!" Lars yelled. "Keep going!"
The black-scaled lizard roared and charged, but barriers appeared one after another before it.
Blue walls. Transparent domes. A rough floating shield. All kinds of defensive talents appeared before it, and even a strange stop sign with the word "STOP" glowing faintly appeared.
The lizard crashed through them with brute force, but each barrier slowed it.
Arrows struck its side. A wind blade cut across its back. A spear of light stabbed into its foreleg.
Blood appeared across its black scales.
"GRAAAAA!" it roared angrily shaking the leaves from the trees.
The lizard lunged at the nearest caster, clearly it wanted to get rid of these annoying ones first but William intercepted it, slamming both fists into its jaw.
The impact cracked the air.
The black-scaled lizard's head snapped slightly to the side.
Then it looked back at William.
William's expression did not change, but one drop of sweat noticeably slid down his cheek. The lizard's claws came down causing William to throw himself aside again. Before the black-scaled lizard could continue charging, Aelius slashed again, forcing the lizard to turn.
Lars recovered with the help of the support and came charging with a battle cry.
"Shield coming through!"
His shield slammed into the lizard's side, it did almost nothing, but the distraction was enough. The black-scaled lizard whipped its head toward him and lashed out.
While the elites focused on the black-scaled lizard, the rest of Richard's army moved.
A player was dragged into reeds by snakes and vanished beneath mud and scales.
A shield-bearer stumbled when Bent-Ear's stone hit his knee.
A chicken and a lizard worked together to force a player out of formation. The chicken attacked the face. The lizard attacked the leg.
Lights burst upward as the players kept dying one after another.
And at that moment, the clearing trembled.
Richard felt it first.
The motes of light from the fallen players drifted through the clearing like unseen sparks, dissolving into the damp air, the grass, the mud, the roots, the wounds, and the breath of every creature still fighting.
His golden aura pulsed as the threads connected to his subjects grew hot.
The battlefield seemed to slow as a rabbit's heartbeat thundered through its thread, a snake's wounded tail twitched, a chicken's furious cluck caught in its throat, and a lizard's claws sank into the mud.
Then light answered.
Small glows appeared across Richard's army.
Some rabbits' paws shone white. Chickens' feathers flickered gold. Snakes' eyes reflected thin silver lines. A young lizard's scales hardened with a dull gleam.
The players saw it and stopped for a heartbeat.
"What is that?"
"They're fucking glowing!"
"Don't tell me they are powering up?"
"Bros, stop them as they transform! Don't wait!"
The second line unleashed attacks as arrows flew and spears shot forward.
One pale spear tore toward a cluster of young rabbits struggling to retreat from the shield wall. Bent-Ear, who was still glowing, saw it clearly. The folded-ear rabbit stood in the mud, chest heaving, a vine belt still tied to its waist. Its fur was dirty. Its paws trembled. Blood stained one side of its body where a spear had grazed it earlier.
The pale spear came closer and closer.
The young rabbits seemed to realize they couldn't dodge and froze.
At that moment, Bent-Ear stepped forward.
White light erupted from its body. Grass flattened around it, and mud scattered outward. Its small body trembled as if something too large was trying to unfold from within. The vine around its waist snapped. Its last stone dropped into the mud with a tiny plop.
Then it grew. Its paws thickened, legs expanded, and chest swelled beneath white fur as muscles rolled across its frame.
The little rabbit rose above the front line.
Above the reeds.
And finally above the shield-bearers staring up in horror.
Its folded ear still drooped over one side of its head as it stood in front of the young rabbits.
The pale spear struck its leg.
CLANK.
Bent-Ear slid back half a step.
Blood seeped slightly from its leg as it opened its mouth.
"SQUAACK!"
Then it slammed both paws down.
The shield wall buckled.
At the same time, golden sparks burst around the muscular-thigh hen as a thunderclap of displaced air slapped the clearing.
The hen shot forward like a feathered arrow fired by a drunk god.
Her talons slammed into a player's head.
BANG.
The player flew backward. The hen, instead of stopping from the impact, kept going.
"CLUCK?!"
She crashed into a shield, bounced off, spun through the air, skipped across a muddy puddle twice, then exploded forward again in the completely wrong direction.
The second line scattered to avoid the wild bursts. The third line stepped back too quickly. The clean distance between front, middle, and rear began to shrink.
Within the grass, the creepy snake raised its head.
The air around its eyes darkened.
Thin silver lines appeared across its red pupils, forming rings within rings, like tiny moons reflected in deep water.
Then suddenly, it became still, stopping all movement as it stared.
For a moment, it stayed in place.
Then the snake moved. Its body slipped through mud and grass like a black thread. Three heartbeats later, its coil snapped around a player's ankle at the exact moment that player became the formation's anchor.
The player stumbled and at that moment Bent-Ear's massive paw came down.
BANG.
For the first time since they had regained their rhythm, the players truly faltered.
The black-scaled lizard roared.
Rabbits surged.
Chickens burst forward.
Snakes flowed through the new gaps.
Lizards crashed after them.
The three lines had begun to break.