Hao Xuan's legs gave out for a moment. He had to sit down beside the guard to gather his thoughts. Right now both men looked absolutely defeated.
"Then...is everyone...is anyone still left?"
The guard gave half a nod before pointing to the left, "Just a few. They are hold up in the old ruins east of the city."
His words gave Hao Xuan some hope as he regained some vigor.
"Then why are you here alone?"
"I wasn't. There were more than ten of us. We came out to try and find some rations for the rest of the people but...we were attacked. I only survived because the young man leading us baited most of the demons to the other side with the help of a few others."
Hao Xuan became alert, "What young man?"
"One of you, a boy using a bow. He was gravely injured but...even then he...he had more courage than any of us."
"A bow user?" Hao Xuan repeated under his breath before a face flashed before his eyes, "Wern?? He's alive?!" (Mentioned a few times already, CH 1057 'Hatchling' was the last one)
"He was..." the guard whispered lifelessly.
"Which way did he go? QUICK!"
Forced out of the daze by Hao Xuan's shouting, the guard pointed in the direction he had last seen Wern go while warning, "Only thing there is death. No one could have survived this long...and even if they did, there is no escaping them."
"Then I will see for myself," Hao Xuan jumped to his feet, "Wait for me here, I will be back soon," he threw out the words, and by the time the guard looked up he was already gone.
***
Approximately eight hundred meters north of the city gates, an abandoned structure near the outskirts of Argham was currently the center of attention for anything that could walk, crawl or slither.
Wern was standing on the second floor of a building firing arrow after arrow from the broken window that oversaw the majority of the area around them.
Behind him were two men wearing similar armor to the other guard only a lot more worn out. They were covered in countless small wounds from head to toe and the armor that should have protected them was little more than decoration at this point.
They were both holding a longspear each, standing by the only staircase that connected the two floors while constantly stabbing back and forth in succession.
The target of their attacks were the same humanoid creatures that were frantically climbing over one another in an attempt to reach Wern from the outside.
These creatures looked human at first glance but the closer one looked the more oddities they would find.
Firstly, their skin was puffy like a leather jacket wrapped around a bag of meat. Their upper limbs ended in long cyclical hooks that could be used to both stab and slice at any distance.
They had no facial features other than a rough 'dough-like' appearance in the shape of a human head. They looked like unfinished clay puppets and judging solely by their physical appearance they didn't appear that threatening.
But they moved with a kind of inhuman ferocity that would give any sane person a fright. Their movements were akin to rabid dogs that violently threw themselves at everything that moved. (Reference Image posted in Author's Notes and Discord)
Individually they weren't very strong but right now their numbers were in the hundreds as they surrounded every single direction.
The guards kicked, stabbed, and used the creature's own bodies to block as much of the stairway as they could but it was a losing battle.
"WE CAN'T HOLD ON FOR TOO LONG!" one of them shouted toward Wern.
Wern himself was not doing much better than them. He was missing an eye and pieces of flesh from all over his body. He had been cut and maimed in more places than any of them could count but even then, even when he could barely stand his arms did not stop moving for a second.
He pulled out arrow after arrow from the quiver hanging on his back and shot them accurately through the head of any creature slow or stupid enough to not jump out of his line of sight.
He pulled out three arrows at once and imbued them with his Qi before letting them loose in the sky. A moment later three waves of 50 arrows each fell down from the air in front of him, clearing out more than two dozen of them.
He staggered and almost fell back but managed to hold himself up by grabbing onto the window sill.
"I can't...I can't hold them off for too long," he muttered through laboured breaths, "You guys have to go. I will try to hold them here for as long as I can, run back."
***
Authors Notes:
All images are posted in the Official Discord.
Link: sdiscord.gg/AHdSBFQ
___
Reference Image Link: si.pinimg./originals/a5/91/fc/a591fc0bc3b1f72ec3b80d506ed64e33.jpg
Shortened Image Link (case sensitive) : surlzs./duVH3
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