Panic

With the wall of bodies obstructing their view, none of the players on the ground were able to see the five Iron Ant Guardians approaching the battlefield. Soze and the others on the ledges could see them, but they had thought the builders would be able to stop them by throwing boulders as the giant ants tried to climb over the wall.

They didn't expect the Guardians to go through the wall instead.

When the Guardians got close enough they began digging their mandibles into the mound of bodies and pushed. At first, the wall was barely shifting, but then the Guardians flung their heads upward, sending hundreds of bodies, living and dead, flying through the air.

For the players, the dead Drones were like spiked cannonballs raining from above, while the live ones were like soldiers being air-dropped into battle. With dozens, if not hundreds of Drones now scattered across the battlefield, panic surged through the players and the Mountain Goats.

The sudden and explosive appearance of the Iron Ant Guardians sent an instinctual fear through the goats and they desperately tried to create some distance, but for the first time in the history of the goats' battles against the Iron Ants, the terrain was working against them. The goats in the back were still pressing forward, and while they could normally make way for any of their kin who were retreating due to injuries, they couldn't accommodate such a massive shift in the flow of battle.

With the massive Mountain Goats becoming frantic, it was only natural that the smaller creatures would be crushed between them. Warriors and players alike were caught up in the panic. Some of the more Agile and reactive players were able to avoid the danger, but the Tanks and Strength focused players were not so lucky.

"GAH!"

"NO! PLEA-"

"HELP M-"

Cries of pain and distress could be heard over the rumbling of the battlefield. Players were crushed under the rampaging hooves, while others were pinned between the massive and powerful bodies of the Mountain Goats.

There were twenty-four melee fighters participating in the battle. After the Guardians tore their way through the wall, almost half of them were incapacitated.

~~~~~

"ZED! WE NEED TO GET THEM OUT OF THERE!" Yang shouted.

Practically throwing herself from the ledge, Yang fell towards the panicking Mountain Goats with Zed following begrudgingly behind her. There was no real plan, but the goal was simple. Get the injured players out from under the panicking goats.

Zed landed on the back of a bucking goat. His footing was unstable, but he was more than capable of moving across the beasts as he pulled as many players as he could find out from between them.

Yang, betting on her high HP and armor to keep her alive. dropped between the Mountain Goats to start pulling out the players on the ground.

It didn't take long for her to start questioning her decision.

In less than a second Yang was taking damage from the shifting walls of muscle and fur. With so little room to maneuver, every move the Mountain Goats made was like an unavoidable attack. Even with her powerful defenses negating most of the damage she knew she couldn't stay down here for long.

'I can already hear my armor starting to creak,' she thought nervously. 'I need to be quick.'

Visions of that one player from Bates' squad that had taken the brunt of a Mountain Goat's [SKULL BASH] filled her mind, his shattered bones and bruises so dark they were nearly black. A part of her knew that things wouldn't be as bad as that. The players had higher Levels, better armor, and the goats weren't using Skills to attack them. But that only meant they had a little time before things got bad. Humans were fragile enough to be trampled to death by other humans in the real world, so even if the players were tougher to kill they weren't immune to the assault of these massive beasts.

She made slow but steady progress through the goats as she searched for the seven injured Tank players. She vaguely recalled their locations, but it was almost impossible to navigate the canyon when surrounded by these shifting walls of flesh and bone.

Yang winced as a Mountain Goat stomped directly on her foot, but grinned as she found her first target a moment later.

Her grin quickly faded the moment she got closer to him.

'Damn, poor bastard.'

The Tank player was battered and bloody after having been caught under the hooves of the Mountain Goats. His armor was still intact, though with several hoof prints in the places where the carapace was thinner. He was also out cold, likely suffering from the [UNCONSCIOUS] and [CONCUSSION] debuffs.

Resting the unconscious player on her shoulder, Yang unequipped her armor to make herself lighter and used [LEAP]. The two of them immediately shot out from between the Mountain Goats and after landing on the back of another goat, she managed to get them up to the ledge.

"SOMEONE HEAL HIM!" Yang didn't wait before jumping back into the chaos below.

It took an excruciating 5 minutes to find the rest of the players trapped beneath the Mountain Goats. Each person she found was more bloodied and broken than the last. Eventually, Yang brought up the last player.

"TAKE HER!" Yang handed the limp girl to one of the casters to be healed as she fell to her knees, breathing heavily. Even with the pain reduction her body felt heavy and sore. Her clothing was torn in various places and she was covered with bruises.

A short distance away she could see Zed having his arms healed by another caster. He may not have had to get under the goats like Yang needed to, but pulling other players free often meant getting his arms caught between their massive bodies. Add to that the fact that he didn't have the [TOUGH HIDE] Skill like she did, and the result was Zed's arms looking almost as bruised as the players who were caught beneath the hooves of the Mountain Goats.

Yang had just caught her breath when suddenly the caster turned away from the unconscious player to start healing her.

"STOP THAT! THEY'RE MORE IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW!" Yang shouted.

The caster shook their head. Yang got angrier and was about to shout something else when the caster mouthed a word at her. A word that immediately sucked the energy straight out of her.

'Dead.'

Wide-eyed, Yang turned her head and finally got a good look at the player. Her body wasn't moving at all, just lying there splayed out awkwardly and bending in places it shouldn't. It was impossible to see if she was breathing with her armor in the way, but her eyes were still open, a glassy stare that wasn't looking at anything.

Yang cursed to herself. 'I should've been faster.' Finding her way through the panicking Mountain Goats had been difficult, like a constantly shifting maze. There were plenty of times when she took too long being pushed in the wrong direction.

'If I had just managed to stay on course, maybe I could've...no.'

Yang gave herself a light but firm smack across the face, startling the healer.

'I don't have time for this.'

She could sort out her guilt later. In the meantime, there was a battle to fight.

Yang looked out over the battlefield as her wounds were healed. The situation had started to stabilize. It had been hard to tell when she had been in such a rush, but the Mountain Goats had calmed down significantly and were starting to fight normally again. The Drones that were raining down on them went more or less ignored, usually getting crushed under their hooves or being picked off by archers and casters.

The Guardians were still tossing Drones into the air as they tried to get through the mound of bodies. One tried to climb over, but the carapaces of the smaller ants couldn't support the massive weight of the huge insect, and it quickly became stuck. Builders were tossing boulders at the giant ants and creating large dents in their thick armor. However, the rocks were doing surprisingly little damage to their HP, as the armor was simply too thick.

The melee players who hadn't gotten injured in the panic had returned to the battle. They were doing well, but fighting the Warriors and the Drones at the same time was clearly giving them a hard time.

Alexx was still holding his position with the Monstrous Helm, doing his best to keep the tide of Drones from completely overwhelming them. He technically should have been replaced by Zed by now, but he showed no signs of exhaustion despite having fought for almost 10 minutes without any breaks.

Yang then turned her gaze toward Loran and saw him fighting frantically toward the front of the battle. His sickle and Bladed Glove were blurs in the air as they deflected attacks from Warriors and cut down Drones with ease. Something seemed...strange about his movements like there was a bit too much desperation when he was defending himself. It was hard to get a good read with [GOAT WHISPERER] from this distance, but she could tell he was unsettled by something. Still, aside from some injuries that didn't look too serious, he seemed to be doing well.

'Maybe he's just freaking out over the Guardians showing up? Someone should-'

"YANG!" Zed shouted, pointing down toward the base of the canyon wall.

Yang followed his direction and immediately her pupils narrowed to pinpricks.

When Alexx accidentally let those Drones through earlier, it had made the mound of bodies thinner towards the southern wall, and now one of the Guardians had used this weak point to break through. A few Mountain Goats were trying to hold it back but Yang knew that it was a losing battle.

"I'LL TAKE IT ON!" Yang shouted back to Zed. "GO TRADE OFF WITH ALEXX!" Zed was strong, but the incredibly thick armor of the Iron Ant Guardian was too much for his weapon. Once Alexx recovered his stamina he would be much better suited to help Yang fight.

Zed nodded at Yang and the two dropped off the ledge again.