Liam was issuing commands to his guards at an insane speed while still also keeping an overwatch on the battlefield below him. The horde of goblins was approaching fast with their increased speed and strength. Guards fired arrows without even aiming them at the horde of green below. The only spot not covered in a blanket of green bodies was the gate and the white land dragon which was completely ignored by the goblins, the horde flowing around it like water. The beast was fighting against Ethan’s control who had to concentrate constantly as he reinforced the chains with every little bit of mana he managed to regenerate. At one point he snatched the food and water from Harris, shoving it down without even trying to taste anything. He was still hungry after using his frozen blood skill, the next time he used that skill it would only be for smaller groups.

  The goblins tried to reach the gate while more ladders were brought forward which Liam had his guards push away or even light on fire if they possessed a fitting subclass or skill for doing just that. The gate itself had no speck of goblin blood on it, Ethan’s two soldiers were ripping and tearing goblins apart like they were made of paper. He saw how strong his subclass was, especially against a horde of targets with their large shields and long reaching weapons. But for the first time he could feel the drain on his resources actually affecting him negatively.

  In the past he either had enough mana to sustain his magic or he went so overboard he fell unconscious due to being completely out of mana. Now he was on the edge, his mana regenerating at the same time as it was used and even with his newly improved mana and mana regeneration he was feeling the pain rising in his body, his mana channels were constantly strained which made him winch in pain a few times. Ethan leaned heavily on the staff and his breathing slowly became more labored. “Liam, I can’t hold it much longer, the pain will cost me my concentration at some point. What can we lose? The gate or the lockdown on that monster?”

  Liam issued one last command before turning to Ethan, his eyes wandering compassionately over the elven wizard. “Keep the monster contained, if that thing reaches the town not even these walls will be enough. Let us worry about the gate, if you can give us a minute.” He turned back to his man, his eyes looking over the guards which were fighting with absolute focus but even they couldn’t keep going forever. “Harris, go get some men and secure the gate! We will lose it shortly!” Liam didn’t even wait to see if his second would actually do it. He just grabbed Ethan’s shoulder and held him upright. “We shouldn’t have helped so many people.”

  The elf smiled and shook his head. “I’m here to fight a war not to lose it, there are things I need to achieve…this is just my preparation.” He took a deep breath and dissolved his ice soldiers, they were already covered in cracks from the goblins attacks, his creations were not made from his eternal ice and could be destroyed, it just took a lot of effort and strength from his enemies.

  With his soldiers gone he could feel his mana actually regenerating but it still felt like a large amount was siphoned off which was seemingly trying to fill the hole his skill left behind. He had to live with that for now but at least his mana was regenerating once again, the feeling of constant emptiness had bothered him immensely even if it was just for a few seconds at a time. Each point of mana that dripped into his pool made him feel lighter and soon he stood upright again, his breathing returning back to normal. For the first time he could actually focus on the horde as he saw it in all its disgusting glory.

  The goblins were already climbing over their fallen comrades, around the gate was a literal mound forming a perfect half circle where his soldiers had fought the impending horde. Now they were trying to break the gate down while more ladders were brought from the depths of the forest. The shaman was still radiating that red aura and while it didn’t physically change the beast Ethan was holding, it was strengthening the land dragon with its sinister magic. That became evident when the chains cracked even more frequently, forcing him to divert most of his attention to repairing and reinforcing them. With him still not back to full strength he didn’t know how long he could actually contain it, but he knew this monster was one definitely on the stronger side.

  Liam and Harris were doing the best they could in this kind of situation but there were just too few people here to hold the tide back. With a sizable squad at the gates, a large group on the wall, the ones keeping an eye on the other parts of the wall and the guards under Hawthorne in the caves. The guardsmen were spread thin and could only fight against increasingly bad odds. Ethan saw no real way forward at this point but they had to fight, nothing else made sense.

  The hours vanished under the relentless attack of the goblin horde, the shaman had stopped using his magic long ago but the goblins life force was fueling the spell that kept them in their berserker state. They abandoned all caution and just threw themselves at the town, without tactics, without caution. The gate was broken only two hours after the fight had started, Ethan managed to freeze it shut but only after many guardsmen sustained injuries. So far on humanity's side there were no casualties to speak of but the guardsmen were exhausted and even with Ethan’s help it wouldn't take long before the town was overrun.

  Ethan was sweating constantly from the effort he had to put into his magic, the monster had stopped growing in strength when the shaman stopped supplying it with magic. He could feel himself growing stronger again, his body on the cusp of full recovery. His mana on the other hand never had the chance to regenerate properly as he has to use it to fend off attacks or reinforce defenses, in addition to locking down that monster.

  Liam came up the wall, his body covered from head to toe in the blood of goblins, the stench of iron was heavy in the air but Ethan couldn't even notice it anymore after spending hours smelling nothing but blood and the unwashed bodies of these little fuckers. The guard captain sighed heavily and leaned against the wall next to Ethan, before he looked at the mage. “We can’t keep going like this for much longer, I sent two runners out to find Hawthorne and to bring every person who is able to fight to this location. We handled everything wrong, but as long as nobody dies today I think we can count it as a victory. That shaman is just making me nervous, we don’t know what else is hiding in these woods.”

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  Harris came up next, he also was covered in blood with his hand bandaged, blood had seeped through the fabric but luckily the bleeding had stopped. He was attacked by one of the goblins, the vicious monster trying to rip his hand apart like confetti. Luckily one of the guards managed to slay it before it actually came to that.

  Ethan offered him a small smile. “Good that you’re still with us. Those goblins are getting more aggressive by the minute it seems even without the shaman infusing them with more magic.” The man nodded, rubbing over his blood soaked mustache. “The more life force they burn the faster and stronger they get. Which is good for us too. It means they’re closer to dying, the thing is…”“...the thing is that the forest is full of beasts, this city was like a hole in the world for monsters and now that the city is gone they want to fill this hole back up. If my guess is correct humans are no longer the dominant species on this planet, at least not for the foreseeable future.” Liam finished for Harris and rubbed his forehead. The three men looked at each other while the guards were readying themselves for the next attack.

  Before Liam could descend the stairs to join the squad at the gate a massive roar sounded out from over the wall. Ethan sacked against the rampart and gasped in surprise, the land dragon had literally exploded, magic radiating from it and slamming into the goblins that were moving around it, popping them like blood filled balloons. Red energy ran rampant from the spikes driven in its body, killing goblins left and right.

  Another roar sounded out from the distance and another shortly after. Lumbering from the forest like behemoths, two even bigger versions of the land dragons approached the city, felling trees and trampling over goblins without a care in the world.

  “This is the end…why the fuck are these creatures here…” Harris had to keep himself steady, holding onto the rampart with his good hand. Ethan managed to stand back up again, shaking a bit from having his magic so forcefully broken after being locked into a silent stalemate with the first land dragon for hours.

  Liam and Harris looked at each other, both of them looking sullen about the developing situation, while they were strong and even stronger with their comrades this wasn’t something you could just beat with swords and arrows. It seems the world was even more dangerous than any of them could fathom if such creatures were your enemy.

  In their despair they wanted to give up, after hours of fighting even the strongest mind can be broken from exhaustion and dread. Their eyes fixed on the impending doom, each occupied with their own thoughts, but before they even moved a muscle a horn sounded out from the mansion, the sound louder and deeper than anything Ethan had heard before. Liam snapped to attention and turned around. “They great horn! That must mean Hawthorne is on his way!” All three turned around with hope in their eyes. The three looked down the main street but…there was nothing.

  “Maybe they were overrun from a different group of monsters and need help…all is truly lost.” Harris sighed and drew his sword, ready for the last fight one foot already on the steps but he stopped when more horns sounded out. Surprisingly not from the mansion again but from the left and right side of the city. Shortly afterwards the sound of war cries, not from the handful of guards but hundreds of voices all at once.

  They looked confused, but Ethan didn’t hesitate another second and slammed his staff into the ground and shot into the sky on a pillar of ice, standing high above the city and the battlefield as he looked down at his surroundings. More horns sounded out, more cries reached his ears. He tried to spot anything but just saw some guards on the walls, bloodied and bruised from fighting. Harris had rotated them out periodically so some could rest.

  One last big horn sounded from the mansion and suddenly two massive explosions of ice and frost assaulted both sides of the goblin horde. Ethan turned around to the battlefield to see the explosions killing dozens of them in a second. When the clouds of frozen air got pushed away by the wind Ethan could see what actually happened.

  The people he offered his blood to, the ones he spent hours caring for, that he tried to save were attacking the goblins. Clouds of frost, spikes made from ice, heavy fist causing explosions of cold. Hundreds of them killing goblins with abilities not really mirroring his own but definitely of the ice magic variant.

  They tore into the goblins, their bodies pale, their hair had turned into whites and blacks, eyes glowing with pale blue. They were chanting while pushing the goblins back.

  “For Winter! For the Progenitor! For our people!”

  “For Winter! For the Progenitor! For our people!”

  “For Winter! For the Progenitor! For our people!”

  Ethan looked down at them, he could feel it, a connection. A bond that wasn’t like the one he shared with Nora, not like his creations, this was a bond of family. He felt connected to them on a deep level and when he saw them fighting like that, using their abilities to slay these foes he swelled with pride.

  He grabbed his staff tightly and a grin appeared on his face. “For Winter…for our people…I like that.” he swung his staff in a wide arch and right in the air a cloud of frost appeared, from it grew a soldier. The tallest, biggest and definitely strongest he ever made. Using his entire mana pool he had regenerated for hours just on this one creation. Holding the spiked shield he started to use for the big ones and his blood reaper halberd, the moment it was created the massive soldier dropped from the skies, landing with a crash as it pushed goblins in every direction.

  Standing at its full size the soldier could easily look over the walls. With his weapon and shield he starts to slay the horde of goblins. Liam and Harris weren’t idle either, they were standing with a man Ethan didn’t know, but was probably Hawthorne, on the wall. They were discussing something by the looks of it and a few moments later a horn sounded from Harris and all the guards started to attack with renewed vigor.

  It was time to end this fight on their terms.