12 Red Hot Battalion! Part 3

Morey would have continued to ponder on this if it wasn't for the heat he was beginning to feel again along with the crackling of fire.

The ice was melting where they stood, leaving them standing on a muddy floor, which was also quickie drying up.

Unfortunately, both seekers were stuck in the center of the protection formation, so they couldn't see the action going on from the outside.

"Do not wastte too much time in combat! We need to pushe them through and out de forest so de esseekers can go a battle de dragon without distraction! Hemember de plan!" Carlos yelled as he swung at one of the monsters.

Despite being in a raging inferno, Morey felt very little of the heat, most of it coming from the openings the armor had, such as his face or torso, Which was the only way to gauge the heat of the battlefield. The soldiers were running but still stayed in formation, surrounding the seekers and the support.

One of the flying lava creatures attempted to attack from above, only to get shot down by one of the wall defenders from Ellie's group, the Alas. The flying creatures were pelted with hundreds of arrows, filling them with holes and causing their limp bodies to fall. William quickly put up his shield, while yelling to Morey, "Morey protect your head!" as one of the lava monsters fell near them.

Morey wasted no time putting the little defenses he had over his head, which were only his saber and tiny buckler shield. If he was being honest, dodging would be a more effective way to protect himself from the falling bodies.

So that's what he did, weaving around the falling bodies as the army moved forward. Morey turned back to the walls where they came from, watching the view slowly get covered by the burning trees, until it was out of sight.

It was insane to think that less than a week ago he was pathetically trying to survive in a small cave, and now he was dragged into a large-scale battle against the forces of nature. It was even crazier to think that he would be willing to help them out asking almost nothing in return. All of this was so far fetched from the world he once knew. If someone told him a month ago that he was going to get involved in a large scale conflict that had little to nothing to do with him, he would ask what the hell they were smoking. He was just a guy who wanted to go home and look his mom and dad in the eyes again without feeling any sort of shame or guilt. He didn't ask for much, right?

Before he could continue to ponder his awful first days, he heard a scream from one of the soldiers. He turned around to see what was happening.

Only to see that one of the soldier's shields melting to a glob of lava that got stuck to it. The man screamed and threw it to the side, leaving an opening for whatever attacked them.

"Lobber!" the shieldless warrior yelled before another glob of lava flew towards him, but another soldier jumped forward in the last second and blocked it with their own shield, only for that one to melt as well.

Carlos turned to the range support and yelled, "Get de backup setsse! NOW!"

The inner soldiers quickly pulled out a small red box then threw it in the ground causing it to grow in size.

"Thats…" Morey gasped.

"Yes," William whispered, "It's similar to our ability… A pocket space, but in chest form. Now focus. Things might go sour here."

The supports inside quickly grabbed a set of new shields and tossed them towards the warriors just in time to block another glob of lava.

"Dammit! Keep de pressure up arrow support! Do notte let it get any eccloser, and do notte let your guard down, we'rre far away from de walls now. Ellie's air support group wiu not reache here!"

Upon hearing that, Morey looked up, realizing he completely forgot about the flying monsters, there were now more flying molten rock monsters swarming them from above than before. Unfortunately the range fighters were focusing on keeping the Lobber at bay, while the other warriors were either defending the Lobber's lava attack, or fighting the worms that were appearing from the ground, leaving the molten monster to close in on them from above.

Morey held is saber up, this was a lot worse than he thought. From how confident Carlos sounded, he was sure that this was supposed to go off without a hitch, but now they seemed to be getting overwhelmed from all sides. He had to do something, or else he was going to die.

Before Morey could act, however, William grabbed him and silently pointed towards the shaking staff wusses. They were both still trembling, but one of them, the one wearing the letter J cap, managed to lift up their staff which was emitting a dark green glow at the tip. The light then separated from the staff, forming a bubble that split into two. Then those two bubbles followed afterwards, until finally the sky was full of those green bubbles.

Morey silently watched as the bubbles expanded, and for the first time, the cloaked wuss stopped shaking. The boy looked at the cloaked guy, and he swore he saw a glint appear on his eye.

"Rise up Aegisses!" The cloaked mage yelled, and as soon as those words left his mouth the bubbles stretched out vertically until they became flat. Once the bubble became flat, the circles became flat. In a flash of light the inside of the circle was swirling inside.

It looked like a portal.

"They'rre getting closer!" one soldier yelled before swinging at one of the red worms.

As soon as Morey felt the heat rising from the lava rock monsters, a gust of wind came from the portal, and multiple of those shield spirits that he saw before in the village spilled out spinning their shields like fans. If Morey was curious about their combat prowess, he wasn't anymore.

The spirits managed to split the volcanic monsters through as if they were butter, but their shields were getting melted, and some would fall to the monster's tackles. The cloaked summoner, however, would summon more to replace the fallen spirits.

Unfortunately due to the lack of air support, there was no way to take down the many flying volcanic monsters in the sky, allowing them to continuously put pressure on the cloaked twins.

The battle was going nowhere, and the soldiers were only getting worn out, while fresh monsters would replace the slain ones in order to penetrate their defences.

"Enough offe dis!" Carlos shouted, "We don't have time to deal withe dese freaksse withe de dragon approaching! We need to move!"

As Carlos shouted his order, the lava worms that were hidden underground sprouted up, spewing a shower of lava to anything near them.

"Sir! We can't take them all on!" One soldier yelled, raising his shield up to protect the comrades around him.

"Dere's too many of dem!" Another one shrieked as they stabbed one of the lava worms before it could spew out another stream of magma, unfortunately his armor was getting whittled away from the few droplets of lava that landed on his body. And he wasn't the only one with armor getting worn away. Many were starting to throw their armor aside since it only hindered them more than helped.

Carlos growled as he fended off against another rock magma monster, knocking it away and looking around. Morey only stood by and watched, knowing they were getting overwhelmed, and they were now being kept at a standstill. Sure they could take them on right here, but the dragon wasn't far now, and it would only worsen the situation. They wanted to keep casualties to a minimum, but from the looks of it, that won't happen unless someone took the hit.

But who would do something that stupid?

"Alright men!" All the soldiers tensed up, but still continued to fight as they listened in to the lieutenant's order, "Move outte now!"

"But sir! What about the monsters?" One frontliner asked.

"Leave dem to me!" Carlos shouted, "You understand?"