Chapter 13: Perilous Endeavour.
"They’ve always been special people in this world. For the longest time, I wanted to be one of them, to be unique, be talented, be gifted... Of course in my foolish pride I never believed I was incapable, but as time passed, I had no choice but to acknowledge my own inadequecies... what people could do in a day, would take me weeks, and what would take people weeks, heh. Well, let’s just say; I now know my limits".
"Damien, duck!"
Yuri’s frantic yell snapped him out of his reverie.
The next moment, a spiked club whistled past his face, missing by mere inches.
"F*ck."
Damien immediately drew his bow and released another barrage of arrows.
The pitch-black projectiles tore through the air and slammed into the advancing Eidolons. Several roared in rage as the arrows buried themselves in their thick hides, but the wounds only seemed to make them more aggressive.
At the front line, Priesty stepped forward and swung its staff with brutal force.
The impact shattered an Eidolon’s skull. Bone fragments and blood sprayed across the tunnel wall as the creature collapsed, allowing the undead priest to immediately engage the next attacker.
Yuri’s blade drew blood, but it failed to finish the kill. The Eidolon staggered only briefly before regaining its balance, forcing her to disengage. She slipped backward through the tightening pressure and returned to Damien’s side just before the line collapsed around her.
"What’s your plan?" she asked, breathing hard.
Damien loosed another arrow. drawing an angry roar from the advancing Eidolons, He reached for another, but his fingers closed on empty air.
He clicked his tongue softly, then turned toward Yuri without panic.
"What makes you think I have one?"
Yuri’s expression didn’t change. She simply shrugged, her deep hazel eyes locked onto the shifting mass of Eidolons ahead.
"Just a feeling."
Damien let out a low chuckle, he almost seemed amused, as if the situation itself had finally become interesting to him.
"I do have a plan, and do you know what the best part is? ..."
He stepped closer and, without warning, grabbed the hilt of her katana, using it to pull her slightly toward him so she couldn’t back away easily.
"You’re going to fucking hate the plan".
Yuri nearly lost her breath being this close to Damien. She could feel his cold breath brushing against her lips, and his bright blue eyes seemed to dig straight into her.
Normally, she would have reacted by cutting his hands off. Then his neck.
But there was something about this dead man. Whether it was the insanity, or the complete lack of regard for his own life, she couldn’t really tell.
"Try me". She said with a faint smile before pushing him away.
Hearing her answer, Damien turned his head toward Chad.
He had been awake for the last few minutes. The wounds weren’t fully healed, but he was in no condition to sit this out anymore.
Seris stepped aside as Chad pushed himself up. He gripped his spear tightly and walked past Damien and Yuri without a word, stopping only when he reached the two undead Eidolons still struggling to hold back the tide.
He shifted into a battle stance.
Damien chuckled softly.
"The plan is pretty simple."
"If we stay here and keep playing defensively, we’re going to die. Probably slow... painful deaths... But if we’re lucky, the Eidolons will tear us apart quickly."
He paused slightly, rolling his shoulders once.
"But I’ve never been the lucky type. And I’d rather have my fate sitting squarely in my own hands."
Seris stood just a few steps behind. If this was going to work, no one gets left behind.
Damien sucked in a warm breath, then exhaled slowly.
"Comrades... We’re going to push the battle line back until we take control of the entrance... It is a perilous endeavour".
He tilted his head slightly, a faint grin forming.
"But don’t worry. Death is on our side."
...
Chad was the first to push forward. He let out a rough roar, almost matching the Eidolons themselves, before slamming straight into them.
His strength was no joke.
The moment they collided, the Eidolon in front of him was thrown back into the tide like it weighed nothing, crashing into the bodies behind it and disrupting their advance.
Priesty and the other undead stayed close behind him, using their weapons to hack and smash through anything that got too close, forcing openings wherever they could find them.
Then came Yuri.
But this time, she didn’t launch herself like before.
After fighting in such an enclosed space, she had realized something, movement didn’t always need to be large. In a fight like this, even a single centimeter of adjustment could decide life and death.
So instead.
She slipped into gaps as they formed, cutting at tendons, throats, and joints before slipping out again. It wasn’t flashy, but it kept the Eidolons from building momentum, and it gave the undead just enough time to step in and finish what she started.
Slowly, but surely. The line began to shift.
The Eidolons were being pushed back.
Damien was still out of arrows.
But Seris had already adapted. She moved between corpses and fallen bodies, pulling out embedded arrows one by one and gathering them into a piece of cloth. Once she had enough, she would return them to Damien.
Damien stood at the very back of the formation, moving calmly through the chaos.
Except his role was the most important.
Soon, his bloodied boots stepped onto the ground where the front line had once been. His cold hands reached out, brushing against the skin of the dead Eidolons.
"Rise."
...
Damien’s gaze lingered on the shifting tide before his thoughts turned inward.
"Now then, where was I before I was so rudely interrupted... Ahh yes... I now know my limits, true. But the fact that anyone would dare think for a moment, that I would settle for anything less than absolutely everything, is beyond foolish".