Chapter 16: Invasion

"What's in front of us?" Evan asked.

"Nothing, except the entrance to our hotel and the other hotel opposite of us." Kennen informed him.

"Why are they going there for? They… they can't possibly know that we are here, right?"

Julio had an ugly expression on his face as he felt fear and many people here had similar expressions, even Kennen.

This could mean that the pig orcs were here to launch an assault on them and he didn't feel like being on the receiving end of a wave of pig orcs.

"We can't see the front here. We go downstairs and check what they are doing." Frank suggested.

Kennen agreed with that and said to Julio , "Get everyone that can fight to the ground floor, we need everyone in case they breach in."

"Fight?! Shouldn't we hurry up and leave by using the staff doors?" Julio completely panicked at the notion of fighting.

Kennen didn't even entertain the idea of running away. He didn't want to abandon the cozy place they had and he also believed they could defend this if everyone participated in the defense.

"I know we might have a chance since you guys are pretty strong but it's not the case for us and the other guys and I don't think they can even hold off one of them." James said in worry.

"Yeah… I think the better solution is to run this time, Ken." Rafael tried to dissuade him and all his friends also nodded in agreement.

"I guess so…"

Kennen thought it was a shame to abandon their base like that but it was better than having some of them die for it.

"Then warn everyone that we should be prepared to run from the hotel but we don't know yet if they are here for us." Frank said to Julio.

Julio and a few people took the stairs to warn the others.

"Time to pack our bags." Evan said.

"Do we even have time for this when they are at our doors? We should just dip right now."

Rafael was right as this wasn't a good time to pack their stuff.

"We don't know for certain why they are here." Frank said.

"What else could they be here for?" Rafael asked.

Kennen also thought of this question and he couldn't come with any other answer that they were here for them.

"But where are we going?" Amelia asked in uncertainty.

"To another hotel in the surroundings or an apartment building." Frank suggested.

With their mind set, everyone was ready to discard all their belongings and leave the hotel. Maybe, they would have the opportunity to come back tomorrow for their bags if the pig orcs left.

Enzo glanced at the window and then suddenly pressed his face onto it, "There's more coming!"

"Even more?!"

"Let's dip! Let's dip!"

With more incoming, Kennen was sure now that running away was the best option. There was no way for them to win when hundreds of pig orcs were surging at them.

He held some hope that they would just go away but they should be prepared for the worst.

"But they aren't going to the entrance…" Enzo said in stupor, "They are surrounding us!"

This was worse than what he thought and basically confirmed they were there for them.

How could the pig orcs know that they were in the hotel?

Those orcs couldn't possibly have scouts to see where people lived, right?

They seemed to dumb to have the observation skill.

So how?

Was it some sort of karma for hunting monsters so they were sent to hunt us back?

Kennen didn't know but that horn was definitely announcing their arrivals.

This could also potentially mean that the monsters could find them and hunt them down no matter where they hid so nowhere was safe.

They couldn't sleep with the same peace of mind as before and would have to sleep with one eye open if they make out of this alive

If it was hard mode to live in the new world, this just cranked it to hell mode.

"Should we still try to leave via the staff's door? There aren't as many pigs there so we can try to break through the encirclement and make a run for it."

Evan made a suggestion while Kennen was in his thoughts.

"Some of us can't run that fast, they will easily run us down." Rafael pointed out.

Kennen was among those people. He wasn't exactly a speedster and those pig orcs would catch up to him in no time.

"We can't possibly fight them, right? There's even more of them now!" James clearly showed that he didn't want to fight this and wanted to run even if some of them doesn't make it.

"We're going to die… we're going to die!" Brandi repeatedly said in a trembling voice.

Her mental state seemed to have broken down as she acted like a crazy woman and that also started to affect Kennen's friends.

"Calm down! We have a chance if we don't fight them on an open field but in a narrow space so they can't use their number, just like in 300!"

Kennen tried to calm things down and proposed a solution.

This was the only idea he could come up with but this would give them a fighting chance. It was the perfect plan as they could also fall like the 300 did, of exhaustion.

"You're right! We can use the stairs and bombarde them from the high ground and the few that make it out can be easily taken care of by Evan and Frank!"

Enzo saw a light of hope and was fully on board with the plan.

This seemed to appease the fears in some of them although many of them still felt that running even with the danger, was a better choice.

Julio came down with the other resident of the hotel at that moment.

"What are you guys doing? Aren't we running?" Julio asked with his bags on his back.

"Can't you see we're surrounded?" Enzo pointed out of the window, "We can't run now."

They looked out of the window and panic started to set in as they all wondered what they should do.

"Just make a path so we can run away! This is the only solution or we'll all be doom!" Michael demanded Kennen and his friends while riling up the people.

"I also believe we should just charge out from one of the staff's doors." James also tried to convince them.

Kennen felt rage surge up inside him. This was the worst moment for this. They didn't have time for infighting, especially with a squadron of pig orcs at their doorstep.

An idea appeared in his mind, that he should just have one of his goblins execute Michael, at least this would put enough fear for the rest to listen to them.

However, that idea was immediately squashed away. This wasn't something he would do, it was just a wild thought born from frustration.

"I mean sure, mate. I don't think we would mind doing that. I'm sure me and my friends will make out of this alive, after all, the pigs will be too busy bashing and eating slow and useless f*cks like you guys." Evan mocked them and told them some harsh truth while pointing his finger at them.

That calmed everyone a bit but they despair started to crept in,

"What should we do then?" Julio asked.

"We fight!" Frank encouraged them, "We use the narrow space in the stairs to limit their number and kill them one by one!"

Those people looked at each other, unsure of the plan but they didn't have anything better and nobody wanted to be the sacrificial pawn for the others to run so they accepted the plan even if they had reservation.

"Non-combattent should go back to their rooms and barricade themselves inside, and don't make any noise."

Kennen sent those people back as they didn't need people that couldn't fight there and their presence could be potentially a bother. Those people were also happy to not be in the direct line of danger.

Shit, Kennen was on the same boat as them since he himself was also useless in a fight but he was somewhat like a strategist of the team so he needed to be present in the battlefield.

With that said, they all prepared themselves for a fight and positioned themselves at the stairs.

It didn't take long for Kennen to hear the pig orcs roaring and hear the barrage they made at the entrance to be destroyed.

However, the pig orcs didn't immediately come to the stairs. The orcs weren't exactly quiet when they walked around but just didn't seem to be coming toward the stairs.

Maybe they would be able to get through this whole situation without even having to fight if those pig orcs couldn't find the stairs.

It was wishful thinking as a pig orc wandered toward the stairs and opened the door to it.

Well, that orc received a power shot from Enzo to his head and died before he could make a sound but that didn't go unnoticed by the other pig orcs as roars were soon heard and pig orcs started to rush toward them.

Pig orcs came one by one into the stairs from that little door but got bombarded by all the projectiles the moment they stepped into the stairs and also got affected by the crowd control powers thrown at them.

Evan was at the front, ready to take care of any orcs that got too close with other augment closely behind them. Evan was the only person among the augment that could block an attack from the pig orcs so he was the only one at the front.

The other augment never had fought before and didn't even get a power boost so they were mostly useless but they could at least buy some time for the people at the backline to finish the pig orcs off.

Everything went according to the plan and smoothly as Kennen could hope for at the beginning. They must had killed 20 orcs or so within a span of five minutes.

Then a roar came and the other pig orcs started to learn.

"Shit! They are using the dead bodies to shield themselves!"

The pig orcs were using the bodies of their fallen brethren to shield themselves from the projectiles as they slowly took the stairs.

"My power isn't working either! They are still holding the corpse up even when I bind them."

The crowd control certainly restricted them and stopped the advance but it didn't make them drop the bodies so their attacks were still going to the body.

"Try to aim at their knees and feet, Enzo!"

Kennen said as it was the only part unprotected.

That helped them kill some of them but others would just drop to the ground while still protecting themselves.

It helped slow down the pig orcs' advance but they still steadily got closer as time went on.

So Kennen and the rest had to slowly back up into the stairs and sometimes they were able to kill a few more with favorable angles.

Evan also pushed a few down when they got closer but no domino effects as those pig orcs were quite strong and steady on their feets.

The augments at the front were able to do some damage with how preoccupied the pig orcs were in defending themselves from the projectiles.

One of the newly powered guys could charge a punch and that packed quite a hit. It took time to charge but it could knock an orc down if it was a clean hit to the head, not enough to kill it but enough to make the orc fall.

Michael was throwing knives but that was quite useless.

Kennen already went up two floors with the situation just like that but the number didn't seem to trim down and their rate of killing the pig orcs weren't high, it wouldn't take long before they reached the roofs and got cornered there.

However, he couldn't come up with a solution and accepted that they would make their last stand on the roof and try their best to kill as many before that.

An armored pig orc at the back and that armored orc slowly made his way to the front as he pushed the other orcs away.

"Get that armored orc!" Kennen yelled to his friends.

It was the biggest threat right now and they needed to take care of it right now.

They aimed all their projectiles at him but it all bounced off the armor and even Enzo's power shot barely made a dent to the helmet.

"Shit! We need to hit the gap!"

Thankfully, that pig orc wasn't fully armored as the eyes, mouth, armpit, back of the knees and the waist were left unprotected.

Unfortunately, the armored orc knew of to protect his vitals so they had no choice but to rely on the augments to deal with it.

The back lines tried to slow or take out the other pig orcs so a gap would be between the armored orc and the rest. Like that, they could create a window where the front only had to deal with the armored orc.

Evan let the armored orc attack first as he prepared to dodge and immediately retaliate right after.

The armored orc made a mid-swing, at the perfect spot where Evan couldn't dodge by crouching or jumping and he couldn't step back either with the lack of space behind him.

This forced Evan to block it, which sent him rumbling toward the wall but he was fine.

However, he couldn't counter attack after that but Frank took up the slack and stepped up as the crowd control came in to restrict the orc.

He was the only one that stepped forward as James and the others were too afraid to even get near that orc.

Frank couldn't get the neck or eyes as the armored orc wiggled too much as it tried to break off this restraint so he stabbed the foot.

That sent the armored orc into rage and immediately broke off the restraints on himself.

Frank wasn't surprised by this and already backed out of the orcs' reach.

That armored orc swung down his metal club at the closest person, which was Evan but he sidestepped it and immediately followed with a stab toward the orc's neck.

This should have gone through, especially with the crowd control helping, but the armored orc moved even with restraint on him and stopped the stab by gabbing Evan's javelin.

The orc yanked it away from Evan's hand and threw it at him before following another swing.

Evan had to block the strikes again and the power behind it made him bend the knee.

The crowd control came in again and Frank went in for the ankles this time but the armored orc backed out as the other pig orcs caught up so he couldn't commit too much.

The armored orc wouldn't step out alone anymore and always advanced with the other pig orcs, being two steps behind.

As if the pig orcs knew they would corner Kennen and the others sooner or later.

He also started to feel tired as the javelins would only continue to appear in the goblins' quill as long as he had enough stamina.

The others at the back shouldn't be any better, especially those on their first crystals, as they had been spamming their ability for quite a while.