The healer's hands glowed with a deep green light, bathing Rowan's mangled arm in its glow.

"Hold him steady!" the woman barked. Her voice was calm, her years of battlefield experience hidden behind the exhausted lines under her eyes.

Wade pressed down on Rowan's shoulders as instructed. His friend's face was pale, sweat beading across his brow, so weak he could do no more than groan.

The bandages wrapped around his arm were soaked through with blood, sitting dark and sticky.

The healer muttered something under her breath, trying to rebuild the arm.

The glow deepened, green fading into gold as she focused on the stump where Rowan's left hand had been.

"Will he live?" Wade asked, his voice hoarse.

The healer didn't look up. "If I can stop the bleeding, yes. But the arm," she hissed through her teeth as another pulse of light coursed from her palm, "will take more time than I have right now."

Wade gritted his teeth, his stomach twisting as the light rippled again, sealing open veins, knitting shredded flesh.

Rowan groaned weakly, his eyelids fluttering for a moment before going still again.

"Don't worry," the healer said quietly, finally lifting her gaze to him. "He's still alive. Faint pulse, but stable. He's tougher than he looks."

She turned to a young apprentice. "Fetch more ether leaves from the stockpile. He'll need them if we're to restore what's left of that limb."

Wade exhaled, the knot in his chest loosening slightly. He let go of Rowan's shoulders, stepping back. His legs trembled from fatigue and his armor felt twice as heavy as it should.

"I'll be outside," he murmured.

The healer nodded but didn't look away from her patient. "If he wakes, he'll ask for you."

Wade managed a faint, tired smile. "Then I'd better be alive when that happens."

He stumbled out of the tent, the world outside assaulting him with noise and motion.

The now darkening sky was choked with smoke. The once orderly rows of tents were half-collapsed, healers and soldiers running in every direction.

The barricades, wooden stakes and hastily erected walls, were buckling under the strain.

Roars echoed from beyond the perimeter, deep and guttural. Monsters, maddened by confusion and bloodlust, slammed into the defenses.

Squads of soldiers stood atop the barricade, shouting orders, their spears thrusting down to keep the beasts from climbing over.

Every impact made the wall shudder like it was breathing.

Wade's jaw tightened. He reached for Toothpick, gripping the weapon in one hand and stretching out the other.

"Bone Spike."

Pale lances of jagged bone shot from his palm, streaking through the air with deadly accuracy.

The first spike pierced through the skull of a leaping wolf-like creature. The second pinned a crawling lizard to the dirt. The third missed, embedding itself into a mound of corpses.

"Come on…" he muttered, firing again.

His movements grew more rapid, each spike finding a mark in the writhing mass of monsters battering the barricades.

But it wasn't enough. For every beast that fell, two more appeared.

A shadow passed overhead.

Wade looked up just in time to see something flying. A long, serpentine creature, its wings shimmering with a thin membrane that caught the light.

It swooped low, weaving through the air with unnatural grace.

"Damn it," Wade cursed, firing another bone spike.

The serpent twisted in the air, the spike missing by inches. The creature hissed.

Then it dove.

Wade rolled to the side as its claws raked the earth where he'd been standing.

The serpent's body hit the ground with a heavy thud, its tail lashing out and striking a supply crate, sending shards of wood flying.

It turned towards him, maw opening wide to reveal wickedly curved fangs.

Wade didn't hesitate. He swung Toothpick with both hands, the weapon arcing through the air.

The hammer side connected with the serpent's jaw, the blow reverberating up his arms. The creature hissed and recoiled, snapping its tail towards his legs.

He jumped back, barely avoiding the strike. The tail smashed into a nearby tent, sending sparks into the air as it collided with a lantern.

Wade growled, raising his hand again and cast Fireburst.

Flames erupted from his palm, engulfing the serpent's torso. The monster shrieked, thrashing wildly.

Wade took a step back, shielding his eyes from the heat, then did something else.

Fire Conversion!

The inferno bent towards him, the flames rippling like water as they were drawn into his body. His veins burned, heat flooding his muscles. His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

Energy surged through him, raw, wild, and incredibly intoxicating.

Wade moved.

His body blurred as the world slowed. He closed the distance between him and the serpent in a heartbeat.

Before it could react, he drove Toothpick into its skull with a blazing swing. The hammer cracked through bone, embedding deep.

The serpent screamed once, a high, keening sound, and then fell, dead.

Wade ripped his weapon free, panting, smoke curling from his skin.

He looked around. The barricades were still holding, for now, but the monsters were pressing harder. Soldiers were being dragged down, their screams filling the night.

And then, a roar split the air.

It was distant, but it dwarfed everything else. The ground trembled underfoot.

Wade turned towards the horizon, his gut twisting.

The sound was followed by another, a cry of pain.

Something massive bellowed again, and the shockwave rippled across the plains. The air shimmered, the pressure so immense it knocked Wade slightly backward.

Notifications flickered across his vision.

[Regional Notification: Tyrant Class Entity Detected.]

[Entity: The Chymerion.]

[Status: Terminated.]

He stared, wide-eyed. "They… did it?"

Before he could think, a second shockwave burst through the camp, an invisible wave of energy that made every light flicker and every living thing freeze.

Wade felt it pass through him, like a heartbeat too large for the world to hold.

Then, silence.

For a few, fragile seconds, the battlefield froze. The monsters seemed to stop attacking, as if unsure what to do. Their heads tilted, nostrils flaring, confusion replacing their ferocity.

Then came the screaming.

The horde broke apart.

Deprived of the Tyrant's control, the monsters turned rabid.

Packs of wolves tore into the nearest drakes, and the boars rammed through lesser beasts in a blind panic.

The air filled with the sounds of tearing flesh, roars, and the thunder of retreating feet.

Everywhere Wade looked, creatures were scattering, fleeing into the night, their formations collapsing entirely.

He let out a shaky breath, exhaustion washing over him. "It's… over."

But he was wrong.

The first sign came from the north. A wall of movement, too large, and way too dense.

The flying monsters that had taken to the air were now diving low, thousands of them. Buzzards, serpents, wyverns, all driven by the same primal instinct. Escape.

And their flight path led straight for the camp.

"Shit."

The realization hit him like ice water. The camp wasn't ready.

The healers, the wounded, the supply lines, all of it was exposed.

He glanced toward the healing tents. Somewhere inside, Rowan lay unconscious.

Wade's pulse spiked again. He tightened his grip on Toothpick, the metal slick with sweat and blood.

The roars grew louder and closer, like a stormfront made of claws and wings.

He looked back to the horizon and saw them coming. A tide of monsters blotting out the sky.

And as the first wave of fleeing monsters slammed into the outer defenses, Wade whispered under his breath,

"Not again…"

Then he ran toward the barricades, scrambling up them, his boots slipping against the blood-slicked wood.

He hauled himself onto the top plank, bracing one knee against a splintered beam, and raised his arm.

Bone Spike!

The ground beneath him cracked with each cast. Jagged spears of white shot forward, streaking through the night sky like bolts of light.

They ripped through flying beasts, impaled boars mid-charge, and shattered skulls before dissolving into dust.

He didn't stop. Each cast drained more of his mana, but he didn't care. His arm shook with the effort, his vision blurring at the edges.

Behind him, the camp came alive.

Adventurers, bloodied, limping, some missing armor or clutching half-broken weapons, rushed to the barricades.

Their voices rose in ragged unity, a rallying cry that drowned out the howls of the monsters.

"Hold the line!" someone roared.

There were fewer than fifty adventurers now, the rest of the defense made up of terrified soldiers gripping their spears too tight.

But for one brief moment, everyone fought like a single living wall.

Fire spells lit the night, arrows streaked through the air, and Wade's Bone Spikes cut deadly lines through the dark.

Then the horde hit.

The impact shook the earth. The barricade groaned under the weight of hundreds of monsters slamming into it.

Spears snapped, shields shattered, and the night exploded into chaos.

Wade grit his teeth, summoning more spikes even as the air filled with shrieks and fire.

"Don't break!" he shouted, his voice hoarse against the roar of battle.

The line held for a heartbeat, then the barricade began to crack.

And the horde surged in.

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