16 Second Battle

The big, burning ball of gas peeked over the horizon, taking a long look at the landscape.

In the Camp was a band of Humans, all awake and equipped with their weapons. Some were standing vigilant and ready, while others opted to lie on the ground or sit around the crates. There was even a small group of people playing simple games…

All of them were quite relaxed, they had catastrophic results last time but they were no longer the same people as they were last week. Now they actually understood the world they were in, and spending the majority of the week hunting Goblins and Wolves in the Forest had caused their confidence to sky-rocket.

Encompassing the Camp were simple defences, all of which had limited effectiveness but also took little time to put up. This ranged from short pitfalls to wooden poles sharpened into stakes. There was even a pseudo-barrier made out of said stakes in between the Camp and the Forest.

In total, there were 25 people currently in the Camp: that number was 4 less than after last battle. The people here had decided to kill off the two severely injured, and another person had died in the Forest during the week. Stanis had also run away from the Camp yesterday.

Jayesh stood near a small group of large, burly men like him. These were the people he had gotten close to, and hunted with during the week. When he had seen that Stanis was no longer in the Injured tent, he had asked around.

The response he had gotten was that Stanis had disappeared towards the Sea yesterday. While Jayesh doubted the boy would commit suicide, it was still very much of an option considering the world they were currently in. Nevertheless, Jayesh now had little time to worry about Stanis. All his strength and energy was now being focused on trying to survive!

The strong ones in this Camp were definitely the Dead 4, which was Orena, Anatoly, Fedro, and Chen, now also Juan. This was due to their personal skill, and also because of the loot they had gathered.

In terms of ranking within themselves, Anatoly was without a doubt the strongest. The pale, muscular, Caucasian man was without rival here, as his skill with the sword was just too high.

Following him would be Orena, the frightening African lady. She was not only powerful but also extremely fierce. In fact, her skill, Dominance, was without a doubt the most disturbing here. In truth, her strength was only shy of Anatoly's.

After her would be Fedro and Chen, who were both equally matched. Unlike the two above them, these two were actually quite social and were able to create a light sense of comradery with some of the other men. This included Jayesh who saw both in a good light.

And below all four of them was Juan, who had basically cheated his way to power. He had used the loot from the last battle, and Stanis's skill to place him with the other four. People hadn't really regarded him as one of the stronger ones until they had seen him fight in the forest. His use of Frozen boundary to break the flow of an enemy was powerful, and also a skill that now many wished they had gotten.

It was at this time a piercing howl broke the silence, causing action to explode within the Camp. People rushed to pick up their weapons and shields, while others began sprinted to their places.

Juan had briefed the whole camp on a loose formation he had thought up, where the larger men with high Constitution and equipped with tower shields would stand at the front of the group. Behind them was where the smaller, normal men/women who were more skilled in dexterity and strength would go. There was currently no one in the camp who could use a bow or such, and so there was no one behind them. Finally, the powerhouses in the Camp would be near the edge of the formation, so they could instantly charge and cause havoc in the enemy lines after the initial clash.

"AWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

"AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

"AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOO"

Three more howls followed the first one, reinforcing the fact that a large company was coming. They began appearing out of the Forest, as Juan had predicted. Leading the enemies were 4 large Wolves alike the one Stanis had killed, followed by 50 smaller ones. In fact, it was meant to be 5 large Wolves, but Stanis had weakened their forces without even knowing. Finally following the sea of grey was a clump of green: about 20 Goblin Shamans.

Unlike last time, the enemies didn't instantly charge due to the fact that they were better led by the large Wolves. Instead, they strolled out of the Forest and got halfway to the Camp before re-organising lines.

It seemed the Wolves and Goblins were smart enough to understand that the Humans had no way of closing the distance between them without losing their advantage. A small group of Wolves, around 10, surrounded the Goblins who stayed there. The rest followed the 4 large Wolves as they began their mad stampede, a frightening charge for anyone on the receiving end.

However, the Humans were far better prepared to receive this time than the first, as the large men tensed themselves, forcing their tower shields into the ground as they braced for impact...

"AAAAWOOOOO"

The first few Wolves ran into the shield-bearers, attempting to topple them over. The second wave just leapt over, allowing them to attack the backline.

And then the Dead 4 acted, instantly causing ruin within the Wolf ranks as blade and magic tore them apart. Multiple skills lit up the battleground, whether it be Juan freezing Wolves within their steps or Orena causing Wolves to squirm in terror. This was going to be a short fight.

****

About a mile from the Camp was Stanis. The waves were relatively quiet, and so he could hear the cacophony of sounds coming from the Camp. He had understood when he had first heard it that a week had already progressed, but hadn't moved a muscle after that realisation. Stanis sat on a large rock on the beach, debating whether he should go or not.

On the one hand, he was weak, perhaps he was one of the stronger ones before, but now he was just a cripple with a single arm. It was by his training yesterday that he had understood how weak he actually now was, it was not an understatement to say that he is now close to how he had been when the first trials had first begun.

While on the other hand, there was the chance that this would be the battle to wipe away Humanity from this corner of the world.

In the end, Stanis decided that he would at least have a look at the battlefield, even if he couldn't contribute to the resistance. However, in contrast to his decision, his legs stay stuck to the ground, unwilling to take a single step forward. In his mind ran several images of the last catastrophe of a battle. His blurry memories within those delirious moments became ever so clear now, and they frightened him so very much.

He was like a PTSD patient, the nightmare still ran deep within him. He felt as weak as a stick in a storm, almost like his body would fall at any moment as he found it hard to keep balance. His head burned with energy, while his body lay dead at the lack of.

He would be courageous if he marched back to the Camp and offered his limited services to his own race. However, he wasn't courageous, instead he was a young man who was utterly terrified and sick of all the violence he was forced into.

Time passed as Stanis lay shivering in the warm sun, and soon the cacophony in the distance died off. The last sounds Stanis had heard were loud, frantic howls. This made him hopeful that the Humans had won, but there was no certainty without seeing the result for himself. But Stanis no longer held the face to go back right after the life-threatening battle was over; he would be seen as the coward he truly was inside…

In a bid to get all of this out of his mind, Stanis began walking across the beach. After walking for fleeting hours, he found himself no longer on the beach. In fact, the beach had died off quite a way back, and yet he had absent-mindedly kept walking across the rock surface. What he was on now was cold, dusky-coloured rock that had cracks throughout the whole surface, allowing for multiple rock pools. The rock itself seemed to absorb his body heat: it felt malevolent.

Startled at where he was, Stanis was about to walk back to his old life when he saw an oddly-large crack within the cliff next to the dusk-coloured rock. It was far larger than the cave he had slept in, in fact this one truly had a cavernous mouth that seemed to eat all light as the inside was pure black. He had been scared of facing battle, but now he felt a weird sense of courage alongside a longing for the darkness, almost as if he was being commanded into the cave.

He stared at the darkness inside for more than just a moment, before walking in. He didn't even wait for his eyes to adjust to the darkness as he felt a yearning for this cave. The cave was made of the same material the outside rock was, and Stanis could tell due to the same bone-chilling coldness it gave off. The darkness was wickedly alluring, but it also gave Stanis a confusing sense of serenity. His body felt relaxed here…

After walking through the tunnel for hours without a working mind, Stanis's mind suddenly clicked as he saw glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel. This also brought him back to reality as he realised where he was: he was in pure darkness as a defenceless, vulnerable man in a vicious world… The fear became very much real as he became disillusioned about his surroundings, no longer was it alluring but more menacing. He felt trapped and terrified by the darkness that surrounded him and dared not pace back through the tunnel.

Instead, he began sprinting towards the glimpse of light, daunted by the idea of it leaving him in this darkness. But the glimpse of light didn't leave him, instead it only got bigger as he got closer to the end of the tunnel. Stanis leapt out of the tunnel, and into the light. He bathed in the angelic light as he looked around him, the first thought coming to his mind being that this was no ordinary cave.

The cavernous tunnel led to a colossal hall, one as large as the sky itself. The roof was decorated with many dark-purple stones that shone light on this world. The light Stanis had thought was angelic, was actually dark purple and alluring, not at all angelic. Around him, the hall seemed to stretch forever before it reached its own horizon in the far distance away from him. But none of this caught Stanis's attention, rather his eyes were solely focused on the temple in front of him.

The temple towered over its surroundings, its crown reaching the sky of this hall. It was made of vibrant dusky stone, which had colour that ranged from dark orange to pure black. The temple itself had multiple, perfect, wide stairs that led to a Greek-style temple.

Countless pillars held up a top layer, which seemed heavier than the world itself. The whole image was very scenic, or would have been if it was not for the two grey, animal statues which had torches of crimson blazing within. Around the two-deer like statues were stone barbs that sliced into the animals, causing ruby-red blood to continuously flow down from the statues…

It was clear that this temple was for the malevolent; it was certain that this was no ordinary cave…