Maze The Endless Quest - 153 Let's try it again

No one knew precisely how long the rampage would still last. After the red clouds appeared, the last day started, and when the red became brighter, it meant that it was close to an end. However, the time from the increase in the glow to the end of the wave could go from a couple of minutes to the rest of the 24 hours since the red clouds first appeared. Worst-case scenario, they would still have over 12 hours of fighting before the end of the rampage.

Time went by, and the battle never had the same intensity. The high number of people changed the dynamic of the entire defense. The vanguard now consisted of two rows of people, one facing the monsters and another facing the entrance. While the ones blocking the monsters still worked to stop them, they would let some pass by for the second row, who would distract the monsters for the damage dealers to kill them. The ones who managed to pass all that still had to face another row of people specialized in killing the beasts. All that with the constant spell and arrows coming from the ramparts.

Even when another turtle showed up, no one was seriously injured. The vanguard did suffer some minor cuts and bruises, but all in all, they had a much easier time than when the previous two appeared. It helped that the turtles only came in ones and not as a pair again.

Hera just finished killing one toad when a loud squeaky noise came from the bog, alerting all the defenders. Alex, Blue, and Hera stared at each other.

“What’s that, the cry of a rain frog?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, it’s kind of hard to forget that sound,” Blue replied after tossing a newt to the ground.

“So that must mean..” Hera started to speak, but a yell interrupted her.

“WENDIGO!”

The entire team looked towards the swamp. Emerging from the trees, there was a massive rain frog. It had black skin, red eyes that moved independently, and a deep green spiked shell, much like a snapping turtle’s back.

The Wendigo let out another squeak, even louder than the one before. Some of the defenders even placed their hands in their ears due to the high pitch of the sound. The creature started to walk towards the entrance, squeaking a couple more times in the process. At the same time, the number of monsters was reduced. It seemed like even they feared the Wendigo.

“We can’t see it!” an archer yelled from the ramparts.

“Look to the edges. If you see it, shoot,” Cass said.

As the defender scrambled to move around and try to find the monster, the Wendigo jumped towards the middle of the group. Everyone was surprised by the move. The creature put itself in a disadvantageous position. It seemed smarter than that. As if to reply to everyone’s thoughts, the monster let out another cry, twice as high as the previous one, making those directly in front of it fall to the ground holding their heads.

Hera was on the edge of the area and wasn’t hit as badly as those in the middle. Still, the sound was enough to make her ears ring for a while. The frog dashed towards one of the vanguards on the ground, slamming her into the sharp rocks it had created.

Some arrows flew, but the monster dodged by going behind the people on the ground. Not only was it smart enough to change a situation to its advantage, but it also could use its enemies as meat shields. The Wendigo had grown too much. Hera prepared a poison needle and hoped flung in front of it. Trying to catch it in the middle of a dash, but just before the spell hit, a gust of wind raised the creature, making it do a flip on the air then landing between Blue and Thomas. The monster withdrew its legs into its body and started spinning. With another gust of wind, the spinning shell flew towards Hera. Thomas attempted to stop it, but his rapier wasn’t strong enough to do anything against the spiked carapace.

Hera dove to the side, avoiding the initial strike as the rest of the team was jumping to join the fight. Alex used her wind spell, trying to counteract the wind that was moving the creature. It had some effect, but nowhere near enough to stop the spin. One of the vanguards moved to the side and slammed its shield, creating a large hexagonal barrier with only the monster and him inside.

At that moment, the spells and arrows coming from the ramparts rained down in that area. The man who created the arena went down on one knee and placed his tower shield covering him from the blasts. The Wendigo charged at the barrier but was pushed back. The spinning shell started to ricochet around the arena, almost like it was inside a pinball machine. Every time it would hit the shield or the barrier, the man flinched. The skill seemed to direct any damage to the barriers towards him.

Inside the area, there was a storm of fire, lightning, ice, light, and thorns. That lasted for only 30 seconds before the vanguard wasn’t able to keep the barrier up anymore. The Wendigo flew away from the now broken arena and hurled at other defense team members. Ten people got slammed by the spinning shell before Tom, Blue, and another three vanguard members managed to stop it from moving around. The Wendigo put its limbs back into the ground, removing them from inside its body, and let out a gurgling croak that created several wind blades around it and sent them flying in random directions.

Hera saw a few people evading an unseen attack and jumped to the side. The spell hit the spot where she was, raising a large cloud of dust that clouded the view of anyone behind her.

She looked back at the monster who now was kicking and headbutting the group while being attacked by the defenders. The scene felt like something from a movie. People screamed and assaulted a creature that stood at their chest’s height while it not only fought back but looked like it was enjoying the situation. Hera moved to the side, trying to get a better angle, when she noticed the rock formation that the monster had created.

“Alex, come with me,” she said as she rushed towards the rocks.

The duo ran around the formation, killing a couple of regular giant frogs in the way, and jumped on top of the rocks. Up there, they had a better angle at the creature being attacked by the vanguards, and since all the spells they had didn’t have a large area of effect, they could hit the Wendigo without hurting the defenders if they were careful. Hera and Alex started working on the monster, sending spell after spell aimed at it. Seeing her positioning, other members of the ground team followed their idea, while the ones with no long range capabilities pulled the people who got hurt towards the healers.

For the first time since the Wendigo appeared, the fight seemed to be going to the defender’s side. The creature had a tough time hitting anyone and was mostly being tossed around in the circle of people around it.

“Don’t be greedy. If you feel tired or hurt, swap with someone on the outside the ring,” Jess commanded from the entrance.

The Wendigo retracted once more, staying motionless on the ground. Unlike an actual turtle, it only had a shell on its back, leaving its belly and sides mostly exposed. People started kicking it or using swords and spears to hit the places where the shell didn’t protect. That lasted almost a minute. Pools of blood were forming around the monster. Suddenly, the creature jumped so high that even the walls of the city were under it. The wind picked up once more, and the Wendigo started spinning before flying towards the ramparts at high speed.

“Like hell, you are!” Cass yelled and raised both her hands, pointing at it. A soft purple glow covered the Wendigo and Cass’s hands, and she moved as if she was catching the shell mid-air, even though the monster was still ten meters away. She stopped the creature two meters before reaching the ramparts. It kept trying to spin, but it was like a gear that was stuck trying to repeat the same impossible motion over and over again.

“FIRE!” Cass yelled, gritting her teeth. Her voice was showing the struggle she was having with the monster.

All mages and archers started firing everything they had, joined by the people on the ground that had ways of hitting it.

“There are still monsters coming. If you can’t help with the Wendigo, stop watching and fight!” Jess shouted as she had to push away one pangolin who went by the defenders.

Hera sent a poison needle with all the remaining mana on her crystal towards the Wendigo before turning around to the incoming monsters. In the back of her mind, Hera didn’t want to leave the beast alone while Blue was still fighting it. She was the one who knew how it was to fight those things. If someone close to her got hurt because she wasn’t there, Hera wouldn’t be able to forgive herself. Now that her friend wouldn’t be able to be engaged it with, she felt somewhat relieved.

It was considerably easier to face the monsters that were coming now. The waves reminded Hera of the first day where the entire team was fighting. Having the advantage of a higher ground while still in the frontline also helped to see what was coming. The most unnerving thing was the loud noise that came from behind her. It was the sound of the spells hitting the Wendigo.

More creatures appeared, and the barrage of attacks kept going. Hera kicked a toad away while Alex stabbed its head. She saw a crocodile charging towards her and hear a voice coming from the ramparts.

“Clear the rocks!”

Hera looked back and saw the people waving for everyone to get out of the way. She jumped to the side, dropping from the makeshift platform. Right after she got down, a loud noise came from the edge of the rocks. Looking at the source of the noise, Hera saw that the Wendigo was slammed against the formation, being impaled by the sharp stones. The monster pushed itself off the edge and struggled to stand up again. Alex jumped towards it, slamming one of her daggers against the monster’s throat. She pulled down, managing to create a sizeable gash on the monster’s neck.

A few other defenders joined in attacking the creature. Moments later, the Wendigo went limp on top of a pool of its own blood. People stared at it for a moment, worried that it could be a trap.

“Are you all brain dead? The waves are still going! Clear a path so the healers can tell if that thing is dead,” Joseph, the third team’s leader, commanded as he pushed away a couple of people.

Jess ran towards the Wendigo, and after a moment, she raised her hand,” It’s dead! We are all clear.”

“Hera, you fought one of those on your own?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah, but this one is way stronger,” she replied.

The people who heard the discussion looked at her in awe. Fighting a monster like that alone meant that you were either incredibly brave, very stupid or extremely unlucky.

“Stop staring. The monsters are picking up again!” Tisha yelled from the ramparts.

Hera thanked her for making people stop staring and focused once more on the incoming monsters.