Draga Of The Vanguard - Chapter 22 Urako 2

“This is the situation.” said Jardin as a few villagers brought up a board.

“A month ago, we sent out a request asking for help with a demon horde consisting of 52 imps. The Vanguard responded with a medium priority notice, saying something else had come up. We do not know what could be more important than fending off a horde, but Im sure they had their reasons. But the situation got worse…”

Those of you here are prepared to fight an army of imps, but our scouts have recently discovered that they now have ogres in the fray, and are 65 in total.”

There were murmurs in the room. An imp went down in one good strike but an ogre could kill many before they took it down.

Some felt the same anxiety as when the Fog Giant attacked.

“So a few ogres, not a problem.” said Kraz, smiling as he imagined his shiny mythril swords ripping their throats.

“True…with some well timed manuevers they can be killed easily.” said Gars with his arms folded. “But an ogre is still an ogre…mess up and your bones wil pay for it. For life.”

“Well, we won’t know till we try.” said Pierre, shining his new steel shield. “So, when is the horde coming?” he asked nonchalantly.

“….In a few hours.” Jardin said quietly. There was an uproar.

“A few hours!”

“We don’t even have positions!”

“Ogres are gonna invade in mere hours…”

“We’re dead meat!”

“Shut up!” shouted the archer of squad 197. He wore a green hood that covered most of his green hair and ears, and his eyes were an ocean blue. He wore simple black light armor, with some green sowed on for camouflage. About as tall as Pierre but still behind Gars, he spoke with a suprising amount of power for an archer.

“We are Vanguards! Our lives are supposed to be hell! A swarm of ogres suddenly appearing…who do you think deals with that if not us! We are supposed to fight the swarm head on and win!” he shouted.

The atmosphere was still incredibly tense. All he managed to do was keep them quiet.

“Okay…Right now there are 40 Vanguards…sorry 37 Vanguards present.” saod Jardin as he saw that Gars and Pierre were the only ones on their side of the room.

“We will allocate most of you to the place were we believe the majority of the enemy will be present. Our town guard will assist you and fire arrows from the fences. Those who are not placed at the front of the battle field will be in charge of killing any demons that stray from it, and that is the basic strategy.”

“….At least it’s better than nothing.” said the female medic on Kraz’s squad.

“Isabel please. Let the man know that’s bullshit.” said the rouge.

“Might as well do it. More killing for me.” said Kraz.

“Crazy Redfieldian.” said the full plate armor knight.

“Pierre, let’s do the second part.” said Gars.

“Why?” asked Pierre, wondering if Gars had lost his spine.

“The movements of the monsters, the sudden appearance of ogres…either it’s pure coincidence…or…” Gars looked to Pierre to finish.

“Shit…Magic. But we can’t exactly ignore the imps can we?.” Pierre said, now re-evaluating his friend.

“We can leave those to the others. They should be able to handle it.” said Gars as he and Pierre stepped towards the stage to negotiate their positions.

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The quiet fields of Urako were this day disturbed by the the unsyncronised marching of demon feet.

With their disturbing screams and maniacal laughs filling the air, only fools dared to challenge them. And in the distance were 28 of those fools.

The imps snarled hungrily and began running on all fours. The ogres’ stomachs grumbled and they began a mighty stampede. And one more demon had appeared. It stood above the ogres but lacked their flesh. It was covered in hair from head to toe and stood with a smile on its blank face. With its long claws it extended its hand as if to say ‘hi’.

“It’s a fucking troll.” said Kraz as the Vanguards stood in position.

Meanwhile Gars and Pierre had been walking around the walls of the town with a handful of knights. They had heard the demons outside of the walls and prepared themselves for combat.

A handful of imps appeared here and there, and eventually they had to split up. “So far so good…I may have looked into this too deeply.” said Gars as he cut down one imp after another. He alone was at the far south edge of the town. The he saw a shadow hover over him. He looked up to see a creature constructing a red magic circle. He jumped out of the way, dodging a spear of fire.

The creature landed. Its eye looked as if there was nothing but fire inside its head. It was bigger than Gars, but still smaller than a tall man. With its bat like wings protruding from its back and long demon tail swinging around, effortlessly cracking the ground, it roared.

“Damn…A Greater Iron Gargoyle…This is just fucked.” said Gars as he regained his composure. He threw powder on the ground and while the creature was confused he hid in a house. “I hope Pierre’s better off than me right now.”

On the east side of the town, Pierre marched alone. He surveyed the quiet surroundings and walked at a brisk pace. Eventually he found himself stopping in front of a small home at its very edge.

It was in miserable condition and that was describing it in a good way. Then Pierre heard something. Alerted, he equipped his spear and moved into it. As he moved deeper into the destroyed home he heard laughing. He moved into the room he had heard the laughter to see a small girl playing with a rag doll.

“Strange…I thought everyone else had evacuated.” thought Pierre as he tightened his grip. He walked towards the little girl and prepared to strike, when her ragdoll dropped. She bent her head, and his spear pierced the ground beside her.

“Waaahh…scary!” shouted the little girl as she backed away from the small black knight. He got a good look at her.
for visiting.

She had scruffy brown hair and dirt brown eyes, and her stature was so diminished you could tell she was malnourished. Her clothes were rags at best, and she smelled only slightly better than manure. “I don’t think you’re a demon. Thank Vener you ducked.” said Pierre. “What’s your name little girl…and what are you doing here?”.

“I’m Anna. And this is my house.” she said while standing proudly. “Why didn’t you evacuate?” Pierre asked the little girl.

“What does ‘avacueight’ mean?” she asked. “Why didn’t you leave town?” explained Pierre patiently. “Why would I leave town?” she asked him. “Looks like you didn’t get the news. I’ll have to advise you t- what’s happening?” asked Pierre as the ground was trembling slightly. In an instant, the walls of the town and the house were ripped clean off by a charging monster.

“Get down! Pierre shouted as he shielded the girl and debris scattered around them. As soon as the carnage was complete and the dust had somewhat settled, Pierre could see the demon that had caused this.

It wore armor that had long lost its shine and covered select parts of its body. It wore a helmet which covered up to its mouth, and its neck was adorned with a necklace of skulls. It had two weapons; a giant machete on his waist and a spiked club in his right hand. It looked at Pierre and Anna, and smiled.

“….A Black Brute Ogre….”