Dio

The hellhounds were coming.

When and how did they get here? I had no idea, but the Nightmare herd was still around too. The hallucinations at least stopped. Did Fang succeed? I couldn't ask him right now, the monsters were on us.

"Sir Goblin, watch out!" Gomel yelled, hiding behind his shield. The enemy wasted no time to rush our formation, it was still intact at the very least. The first overgrown dog had no chance of getting past Bastion.

In the meantime, the wolfkin unsheathed both his short swords. One of his blades dipped into the hound's flesh and it stuck between the vertebrae. The creature howled and cried, but could no longer move.

Fang's arms started glowing. I was able to tell, the spirits aided him. His swords were in motion again, and the first attacker's head rolled on the ground. This did not scare off the rest, already in the air, leaping towards us, three in the next wave at once.

"Move behind me!" The ogre yelled, taking point. He held out his massive shield and one of the monsters bounced back like those leather balls I've seen in Nateaser. The other got caught by Bastion's swing and heard its ribs shattering into a million pieces. He had one hefty mace...

The third one still got through. I expected them to attack Fang, he was the most dangerous in our group, but these monsters didn't know that. They went for the easy target instead, that just happened to be me.

The hellhound was multiple times my size and smelled of rot. I was easily knocked over, my buckler raised, but it couldn't break my neck at least. Its razor-sharp teeth wrapped over the iron shield, but the claws still bypassed it. One of them missed, the other plowing right into my face.

"Argh! My eye!" I cried out. It felt like the bastard had gouged out one of them. At the very least, half my vision suddenly went dark, but I had no time to take inventory. I grabbed my dagger and drove it into the guts of the beast. "Eat this. To the hilt."

It took all my strength, but I grabbed it with both hands and yanked the blade towards the head. It sliced his stomach wide open, the inner parts spilling out all over me, but it kept struggling. Fang had to help me finish it, and the next wave was already coming.

"You still good?" Was all the beastfolk asked, but I couldn't answer yet. Two more attackers were beaten back, but they got away with their lives now. I had difficulties seeing with my remaining eye, not to mention the bleeding, while covered in the innards.

There were at least a dozen more big dogs, and the Cerberus watched over them. I resisted the urge to throw up.

"I'll survive..." I claimed while they kept driving them back. I couldn't forget that the Nightmares were behind us too. They did not make a move yet but weren't helping either. "What's with the horses? Are they with us?"

"Are you still hallucinating?" Fang asked without looking back. "If not, I guess they are not against us at the very least."

Well, they could have made this fight difficult for sure. I wouldn't see with my remaining eye if I was still under their spell, but the hellhounds were enough to get us on their own. They weren't simple, dumb animals, they flanked us.

"Gomel, behind us to the left, the left." I warned the dwarf probably too late. I couldn't help it, my left eye was gone. While four of these black dogs attacked the ogre and the beastkin, two got behind us.

I stopped one with my buckler, and this time, I managed to stay on my feet. Gomel smashed his skull in with the shield. The edge was reinforced all around, too bad he didn't carry weapons. He seemed more than capable to assist us in the fight if he put his mind to it.

"Nice going, look out for the other one!" I yelled. The dwarf blocked an attack from that monster, and I drove my dagger into Its head, from below, through the jaws. "That's one less to worry about."

"Thank you, Sir Goblin." The dwarf struggled to speak, but we were both alive and breathing. More or less, at least. I could barely stand the pain, my arms felt heavy too. Fang was in close quarters with two dogs on his own, Bastion cracked the spine of one and threw the other with his shield. The hound landed next to the Nightmares, still idling.

If I had to guess, it instinctively attacked the nearest colt. Things quickly turned around in our favor. The abyssal stallion did not approve of his offspring being attacked. Until now, they were peacefully observing the unfolding battle, but he let out a warcry and drove his jagged horn into the hellhound. They did not stop there either.

"Look at them go!" Bastion yelled, looking unsure of which way to hold the shield. That was one lucky throw from him, for sure.

In a tight formation, the Nightmares galloped around the main square. The stallion would indiscriminately attack everyone, inflicting serious wounds with his horn. The rest of the herd trampled over whatever remained of his target. Fortunately, they didn't aim for us in the middle of the Gate. Before Fang cut down his opponents, the abyssal creatures fatally wounded half a dozen monsters.

"So are they really with us now?" I asked, covering my bloodied face.

"Just try not to draw their attention..." Fang suggested, breathing heavily. "They don't seem to be messing around."

I could tell that much... They didn't need their nasty ability to wreak havoc on the battlefield. The Cerberus disappeared before I realized, and the rest of the overgrown dogs retreated moments later. A dozen of their dead bodies littered the square. The Nightmares ended half of them in the last minute alone... They did not chase them though.

"Are they gone for good?" Bastion looked around curiously. He still wouldn't lower his shield, but the dwarf dropped the other. His wrists were swollen, but he got away with it relatively easily.

"I hope they are." I breathed heavily. "I can't take any more than this."

All of us were bleeding, although it didn't affect the ogre. The rest of us had our newest armor on. It was obvious that we couldn't survive without them. The hood I wore over my chainmail was completely ragged, not to mention, covered in filth. The forearm guards on the wolfman had visible bitemarks on it, but they didn't go through.

"Excellent work on these, good Dwarf, Sir." Fang held his arm up. "I would have been torn to shreds, if not for your craftsmanship..."

The abyssal horses were mostly unharmed. They still ran a few more circles before slowing. At least they didn't come closer to us. I thought the hellhounds were bad news, but now I realized, these guys were way more dangerous than anything else I had to deal with.

Their ability alone, to project those hallucinations into their enemies' heads was terrifying. And they didn't lack the strength to do battle either. My legs gave out, and I fell to the ground. I tried to discard my ripped and soiled hood, but my hands barely moved.

Once things calmed down, the two older specimens gathered around the wounded colt. They licked the scratch the hellhound caused, but it didn't seem serious. I couldn't tell if it was because they were so tough or the other monster got weakened that much. It was also hard to say if this was all. My heart beat so loud, I could barely hear anything. I completely lost my ability to analyze the battlefield.

"I don't think, they'd come back for more." The ogre claimed. "They got thinned out quite a bit... Even the three-headed one ran away..."

"Well, there are others to worry about too," I noted, looking at the large, dark creatures. "But this was great... I think I lost an eye..."

The stallion slowly stumbled our way, but Fang was too busy stopping his bleeding. I could use some help too, we got one hell of a beating, but considering how it went with regular wolves a week or so ago... These monsters were much larger. All in all, we improved a lot.

But we didn't have a healer with us...

"I'm deeply sorry, Sir Dioneras." The dwarf dropped to the ground next to me. "I did not expect the hellhounds... The worst time..."

"Things like that happen." I tried to comfort him. No matter how much I hurt, he didn't need to take the blame. He wasn't a fighter to begin with. Well, neither was I. "If anything, we are truly grateful for these weapons and armor... Without them, we'd be all dead, for sure."

"But it was my crazy idea to have you tame these beasts." He kept apologizing. I hoped he wouldn't raise his voice any more than this though. The Nightmare stallion was in arms reach now. I didn't want anyone to upset him. "I had no idea, they'd be so fierce and dangerous..."

"Welcome to the club," I answered, struggling with the sharp pain. "If only we had some healing potions... My face got torn open..."

The abyssal horse did not walk up to Fang, he came right next to me to my greatest surprise, his mane waving like fire. They indeed were majestic creatures. I looked up at him with my remaining eye.

I was half expecting him to emanate immense heat, but it didn't feel any warmer than a regular horse, or my previous wyvern mount. Maybe it was part of their illusion. And they didn't smell as bad as the hellhounds either. While contemplating if I should reach out and touch its face, the Nightmare easily got ahead of me.

It licked my wound unannounced. His tongue was huge, and glowing orange like his mane. I was not expecting that, the others froze up too.

"I guess he likes you," Fang noted, curiously observing.

"Hardly surprising... I'm the lovable Captain Dioneras." I claimed, trying to stay as calm as possible. The stallion's tongue kept on lapping at me. "And it is not just him trying to get a taste of my blood... Oh, gods, my face hurts so bad. I hope it won't get bitten off..."

"That's the same what they did to their injured colt." The beastkin said. He was slowly approaching us now. "Maybe that means they adopted you into their herd. How does it feel?"

"Hard to tell when I'm in so much pain..." I answered, sprinkling in all the sarcasm I could still find in myself. "Considering it didn't burn off my remaining skin, it's quite underwhelming, but I won't complain now... Okay, okay, good boy, stop it already."

I patted his scary-looking face, and I swear, the Nightmare smiled.