TJ watched as another foray to slaughter more of the monsters was only barely successful. After Stanton's attack, only the second one the monsters had sustained, they'd all gone to ground. TJ swore his ears were still ringing after the painfully loud shots from Stanton's gun. Since he'd been curious about what had killed the Raven Mocker so easily, he made sure to watch Stanton specifically. When the pistol shifted to have a stock and grew to several feet long, TJ wasn't sure what to think. When it then released shotgun blasts on automatic, TJ knew what to think. It was echoed by the people standing next to him.
"Holy crap."
Looking through the forest where Stanton had unleashed at least a dozen shots, TJ watched as several trees listed, then fell with booms. Whatever had been alive there wasn't any longer, as pulped flesh and mashed bodies were all that remained of the Acolyte's attack. He didn't seem too exhausted either as he continued to wait for the other members of the party to deal their damage. They strode a bit closer than TJ's group had, but still not within the cover of the forest and killed everything they could see. As the monsters rallied to fight back, they retreated, Stanton in the back. Even with him there, though, the monsters continued their pursuit, and for a moment, TJ worried that he'd need to step in.
He was wrong.
As soon as a large group of monsters stepped out of the cover of the trees, Stanton stepped away from the rest of the Participants and ran along the broad side of the rushing beasts. There, he unleashed another barrage of buckshot. TJ had used a shotgun before and he knew what damage a .12 gauge with buckshot could do. What Stanton was doing was far beyond the limits of ordinary shells. Two rows of monsters exploded into red mist as each one of the shots hit them, and before long, every living being along that side of the attackers was reduced to so much pulped flesh.
Stanton wasn't done at that point, because the creatures seemed to be unsure of what they were going to do about the insanely quick Acolyte harrying them. The old cowboy didn't hesitate. Seeming to choose to conserve his MP for now, Stanton drew a large bowie knife from his waist. Before TJ could react, he rushed into melee combat with the monsters and went about slitting throats with reckless abandon. Each of his movements was deadly, and though the pukwudgies and coyotes tried to reach him, he couldn't be stopped. It was almost like a ribbon dance as Stanton's knife dripped blood in fountains through the air. Whenever the trailing crimson faltered, he'd bury the weapon deep in one of the monster's necks and flit away.
Even though he was in striking distance of the monsters, Stanton refused to allow himself to be surrounded and continued engaging for a mere second, just long enough to strike a deadly blow on the nearest enemy. Then, he was back away and ready to kill another. The monsters screamed their rage and pressed in closer, determined to kill the reckless old man. That opened them up to the rest of the hunters.
The Acolytes let every attack they could muster fly, dozens of monsters dying by the second. As javelinas and coyotes closed in, the Zealots in front of them spent their Skills recklessly to ensure that nearly every attack they ade was crippling or deadly. Flashes of light and cracking of bone filled the air. As the Gila Monstrosities closed in on the Zealots, they all turned to flee in unison. With roars of determination and fury, the monsters continued their charge forward.
Meanwhile, as the rest of his hunting party pulled back, Stanton did too. He sprinted with inhuman swiftness away from the lines he'd been fighting on and arrived back at the first just before the rest of the hunters did.
"Get ready to kill!" TJ commanded as the monsters continued chasing forward. "Fresh Zealots, get ready to chase them down if they disengage!"
Then, knowing how good of an opportunity this could be for the lower-leveled Participants, TJ sat back and watched. He hadn't bothered to use Ritualistic Transfer, so he wouldn't be able to heal anyone, but he could move quick enough, or react fast enough with Wind Manipulation, to keep the eager and less-experienced members of the Tutorial safer.
There wasn't much need for him to do so. As they drew close, something seemed to pull the monsters back. Before they got into melee range of the walls, they slowed, allowing the frantic attacks from every Participant to fall among their ranks. Even so, they fled.
"Charge!" Screamed TJ as the creatures turned their backs. Every Zealot on the walls leapt over their bulwarks and rushed at the monsters. TJ himself didn't lead the way, but bolstered the sprinting Zealots with Wind Manipulation, putting the wind at their backs. As he did so, he thought of how he could do the opposite for the monsters, and conjured up a strong headwind to slow them. With his help, the Zealots tore into the retreating monsters. As javelinas fought to turn around and engage their attackers, Skills flashed and filled the air, enhanced strikes like Sarah's and explosive damage like Seth's annihilating everything they touched.
With a dozen fighting fresh Zealots ripping into their flanks the monsters' numbers were quickly reduced. They turned back to threaten the Zealots, but with one final push, the Participants slaughtered another two dozen monsters and ran back to their fort. The monsters pursued for another moment, but as the Acolytes on the walls continued to press the attack, they gave up as another dozen of their number joined the dead. As the last stragglers from the force of several hundred beat a hasty, defeated retreat, a mere 50 or so remained alive.
"Can't have that." Stanton grunted as he pulled Suzie out and leveled it at the monsters. Then, he held the gun much too high for the bullets to have a prayer of hitting the fleeing enemy. When he squeezed off a shot, it was a grenade that shot out. Or, not actually a grenade but a twisted fist-sized clump of roots. As it landed in the middle of the monsters, it burst out like an enormous, green octopus. The roots grabbed all but a few of the monsters and Stanton grunted in displeasure as the three enemies escaped.
"Go deal with it." He shook a hand dismissively at the Zealots that'd just hopped over the walls.
"But we just got here!" Joked one, though he was the first back over the wall and sprinted at the constrained targets. The Zealots all destroyed everything they could reach, wading through the struggling, frustrated creatures. Before long, an out of place clump of mossy roots was all that remained of that last vestige of resistance.
After two engagements that had shredded through at least 600 of the monsters, they'd had no small amount of faith in their plan. The monsters, unfortunately, refused to engage after that. Each sally they did forward would result in a paltry dozen or so of the enemies being killed. It wasn't long before it became apparent that Seth was the best person to be on those attacks, because he could reliably find a pocket with at least a couple dozen of the monsters, but even then, it was hardly worth it.
"Pity we can't always throw ourselves out at full power at every attack." TJ mused with Stanton as the older man returned with a strike force that'd found only a dozen monsters that were unable to escape their blitzed attack. While the attackers returned, TJ had been busy digging out a trench as fast as he could manage without running himself ragged. Most of the Disciples and Zealots had joined him, excavating a several feet deep pit with the dirt all piled on the side to make a smaller, secondary wall surrounding the walls of pukwudgie corpses and wood.
"Yeah." The cowboy responded, sucking his teeth habitually. "That wouldn't be bad. But we probably need to pull our biggest hitters back now, make sure we're all at full when the 3,000 come. We haven't seen any Elites so far, and there should be about ten out there. They'll need our attention, and we can't exhaust ourselves on that wave or the Elites either, if we're right about the other monsters coming in bulk as soon as the third wave arrives."
TJ couldn't muster up a coherent response, instead merely sighing. Even if they thought they knew what the monsters' plans were, there was only so much they could do about it. They had the numbers, and the Copper tier was coming as an appetizer to the damned Boss. The System still refused to tell them how long of a recovery period they'd have before they had to fight it.
"You ready for your part on this initial wave?" TJ asked the old man as he picked up a shovel and dug much faster than any ten men from before the Integration could hope to.
"You're the one with a hard part." Stanton scoffed. "You ready to plug some holes?"
"And make a lot more." TJ shot back. "There won't be much they can do about it."
"You sure seem sure of yourself. Hope you're right."
"I am." TJ nodded. "With how high my Toughness has gotten, I'll be nearly impossible for the weakest Dirt monsters to do anything to. The stronger ones, the ones over 20, will be able to do just a little, but I'll react nice and quick to them. Slowing that initial advance will be the most important part."
"I guess so." Stanton didn't seem to agree. "We'll have Angelo on your side of the wall, just in case you need our best healer for your hubris."
TJ grunted as he wiped the mixture of sweat, mud, and rain from his brow. Checking the System's countdown, another three hours remained until the end of the wave, and the sun was almost all the way set already. They'd struggled to figure out a way to shed any meaningful amount of light on the fields surrounding the fort, and after they realized that there wasn't any gasoline to power the single generator found in the back corner of the store, they gave up. With everyone gaining levels and getting marked increases to their Perceptions, nobody was entirely unable to see somewhat in the dark. The constant drizzle wasn't helping, but everyone could see at least 40 feet out into their surroundings.
Farid went out preparing as many traps as he could manage while everyone else strengthened the battered fort as best as they could. Hours passed with little motion or commotion from the edges of the forest. As the sun set, they set people to watch on every side of the fort.
The higher level Acolytes like Stanton could see at least a hundred feet out into the clearing. TJ, as a coatl, could see and smell far more than he should have been able to with the scent of mud and petrichor covering everything. As soon as the light of day truly faded, TJ settled into his position, though not as a coatl. After all, this might truly be a long battle, and if he was forced back into his human form while overwhelmed by hundreds of monsters, he'd die.
TJ sat in the rain, the mud under him seeping through his pants while the Shroud kept the rain from flicking his eyes. He fell into a nearly meditative state, but his focus was instead on his surroundings. An hour passed and someone brought him a wet but still warm steak with a salad beside it. He didn't even look down as he stuffed the meal into his mouth with both hands. The food sat comfortably in his stomach, but TJ didn't let it pull him from his focus. As the timer for the wave's completion ticked down to 32:06, the winds excitedly announced that things were moving. A lot of things.
He stood, his empty paper plate forgotten. This would be a fight for his life.
"Ready! They're coming!" TJ shouted as the sounds of enraged monsters finally let loose echoed over the clearing.