Leaving the sealed tunnel behind, the party moved back into the chaotic heart of the outpost. The silence of the buried sappers was quickly replaced by the overwhelming roar of the siege, a constant physical pressure against their ears. Josh trudged towards the command post, his boots feeling heavy on the cobblestones, the sharp spike of combat adrenaline fading into the dull, throbbing ache of endurance. He wiped a mixture of soot and sweat from his eyes, stinging and blurring his vision, as the overturned cart serving as the nerve centre came into view.

  The courtyard was a different world from the one they had left less than an hour ago. It was no longer a place of organised chaos; it was a field hospital. The triage area had expanded, spilling out from the stables. The moans of the injured formed a constant, low-frequency hum that burrowed under the skin.

  The Captain was shouting at a runner, pointing frantically towards the eastern wall, but stopped when he saw Josh’s party approach. He looked older than he had this morning. The lines around his eyes were etched deep with soot and stress, and his tabard was stiff with dried blood, some of it likely his own. He was leaning heavily on the cart, his map anchored by a dagger and a heavy gauntlet.

  "Report," the Captain barked, his voice raspy, shredded by hours of shouting orders.

  "Breach sealed," Josh said, keeping it concise. He didn't have the energy for theatrics. "Sappers dug under the foundation. We killed the first wave, burned the tunnel, and got an Earth Mage to fuse the ground. It's solid rock now. We left a patrol to watch for any more holes being dug, and left the Earth Mage with them to shore up any breaches, and a few extra fighters just in case."

  The Captain let out a breath, his shoulders dropping an inch. It was the first sign of weakness he had shown. "Good. That's one less knife in my back." He looked at the map, stained with red ink and sweat. "We're holding, barely. But the beasts are still testing the gate. Every hit weakens the timber. The Smithy district is running out of bracing beams."

  "We need help," Bhel said, leaning on his axe, the haft slippery with gore. "We can't hold this forever. My arms are getting tired, and dwarves don't get tired."

  "I know," the Captain nodded grimly. "I've sent fast riders to Ashenfall and Verentide. If they ride hard, and if the Lords listen... we might get a relief force by dawn. I'm hoping for a Gold-rank party, or at least a battalion of regulars. But politics moves slower than kobolds."

  "Dawn is a long way off," Perberos noted, looking at the darkening sky. The orange smog from the portal was beginning to glow against the sky, painting the clouds in bruised purples.

  "Which is why I need you moving," the Captain said, straightening up and pointing to the highest point of the fortification. a stone watchtower that loomed over the main gate, overlooking the portal crater directly. "The plan stands. We need to clear the landing zone."

  He looked at Carcan as she approached her friends. The healer was swaying slightly, her face pale. "Healer, I need you in the rear. The clerics and healers are burning out. You're getting people back on the wall faster than most. Your mana is better spent knitting flesh than smiting kobolds right now."

  Carcan nodded, though she looked reluctant to leave the party. She gripped her staff tightly. "I'll keep them breathing, Captain. You keep them fighting." She squeezed Josh’s hand briefly, her fingers cold. "Don't die. I don't have the mana to resurrect you."

  "We'll be fine," Josh promised, though he didn't feel it. "Go. Help them."

  She turned and ran towards the triage tents, her silver robes already stained grey.

  "You four," the Captain addressed the rest of them. "Get to the tower. I'm pulling rangers from the lower walls to join you as well. Your job is simple: suppress the area directly in front of the portal. Make it a killing floor. If anyone steps out of that dungeon, I want them to have at least a moment's breathing space and not get jumped on by a horde."

  "What about the wall climbers?" Perberos asked. "If we're focusing on the ground, who watches our backs?"

  "You guard the rangers," the Captain ordered, indicating Josh and Bhel. "I can't spare melee fighters for the tower. If kobolds scale the tower, you throw them off. Keep the archers shooting. You are the shield for the artillery. Do not let that tower fall."

  "Understood," Josh said.

  They moved to the supply dump. It was a chaotic pile of weaponry and crates, guarded by a harried quartermaster who was handing out bundles of arrows without checking who was asking. Perberos didn't ask; he grabbed four quivers of arrows, slinging them across his chest like bandoliers until he looked like a bristling porcupine. Brett took three large mana potions, his hands trembling slightly as he stowed them in his belt loops.

  Josh looked around. He didn't need arrows. He needed mass.

  "Bhel," Josh said, pointing to a pile of debris near the collapsed smithy wall. "We're going to be high up. Directly over the horde."

  Bhel grinned, a savage expression in the gloom, his teeth white against his soot-stained beard. "I see where you're going, lad. Gravity is a dwarf's best friend. Cheaper than arrows, too."

  They found a pile of masonry rubble, stones dislodged from the earlier bombardment, heavy paving slabs, and broken bricks. Josh opened his magic satchel.

  "Fill ‘er up," Josh ordered.

  They spent two furious minutes shovelling jagged rocks, bricks, and heavy paving stones into the magical sack. It swallowed the debris effortlessly, mass disappearing into the pocket dimension. They worked until Josh felt the magical strain of the bag reaching its capacity limit.

  "That's enough," Josh said, cinching the bag. "Let's go."

  The climb to the tower was brutal. The spiral stairs were narrow and steep, forcing them to go single file. The air grew hotter as they ascended, the heat of the burning courtyard below rising to meet them, trapped in the stairwell like a chimney. Every step burned. Josh could hear his own heart hammering in his ears, a frantic drumbeat against the inside of his helm.

  When they emerged onto the open platform of the tower, the view was apocalyptic.

  They were fifty feet up now. The wind whipped at their cloaks, carrying the stench of ozone and burning meat. The entire crater was laid out below them like a map of hell. The portal was a black tear in reality, pulsing with a rhythmic, necrotic light.

  The courtyard was a sea of red scales. It was so dense the ground was invisible. It looked like a hive of insects, a writhing, shifting mass of biology that defied counting.

  "Gods," Brett whispered, looking at the sheer number of enemies. "It's an ocean. How are we supposed to stop an ocean?"

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "We don't stop it," Perberos said, stepping to the crenellations and looking down with a hunter's cold calculation. "We just drain it. One drop at a time."

  He nocked an arrow.

  "Set up!" Josh ordered, his voice snapping them into focus. "Brett, Perberos, take the front. Bhel, watch the stairs and the ladder points. I'm on heavy ordinance. Don't let anything touch the casters."

  Brett stepped to the edge. He didn't look manic this time; he looked focused. He remembered the Captain's orders. Clear the landing zone.

  He raised his hand, this time carrying the firestone he’d looted in the dungeon. The crystal glowed white. "Fireball."

  He didn't cast it at a random group. He aimed directly at the ground in front of the portal. The bead of fire streaked down, a comet in the twilight, and detonated.

  BOOM.

  The explosion cleared a ten-foot circle in the press. Kobolds were thrown outward, their bodies burning, limbs flailing. For a split second, the blackened cobblestones were visible.

  "Again!" Brett chanted, sweat instantly beading on his forehead. "Wall of Fire!"

  He drew a line of flame across the front of the portal, creating a barrier. The kobolds hesitated, screeching at the heat, pushing back against the crush of their kin.

  "Good!" Josh yelled. "Keep that pocket open! Perberos, targets!"

  Perberos was firing steadily. Thwip. Thwip. Thwip. He wasn't shooting the grunts; he was targeting the elites. He spotted an Enforcer barking orders and put an arrow through its throat. He saw a shaman raising a staff and pinned its hand to its shoulder before putting a second shaft in its eye.

  Josh stepped to the edge, peering over. The base of the tower was swarming with kobolds trying to find purchase on the smooth stone. They were forming a pyramid, climbing over each other to reach the lower arrow slits.

  He opened his bag. He upended it.

  "Heads up!" Josh roared.

  A cascade of heavy stones tumbled out of the bag. They fell fifty feet, accelerating into lethal projectiles.

  CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRACK.

  The sound of rocks hitting armoured bodies from that height was sickeningly loud. It sounded like hail hitting a tin roof, if the hail was the size of melons and the roof was made of meat. A Scale-Breaker that had been trying to batter the tower door was flattened by a paving slab, its iron-infused skull caving in.

  "Hah!" Bhel cheered, leaning over and dropping a brick aimed at a climber. "Take that, you uglies! It’s raining vengeance!"

  It became a grim, repetitive cycle. Brett would blast a clearing. The horde would surge back in like water filling a hole. Perberos would snipe a leader. Josh and Bhel would bombard the base of the tower to keep them from climbing.

  Time blurred. The sky darkened further as afternoon set in, though the fires of the breach provided plenty of light. The tower became an island in the storm.

  "My mana’s about half now," Brett called out, his voice steady. He was pacing himself, using the ambient heat to supplement his reserves, but carefully this time. He was learning. He wasn't trying to burn the world; he was just trying to keep one small patch of it clean.

  "Save it for the big clusters," Josh ordered. He was hurling rocks by hand now, picking them out of the bag one by one for better accuracy.

  Suddenly, a grappling hook clattered over the parapet right next to Josh. Before he could react, a heavy chain pulled taut, and the hook dug into the stone.

  "Climbers!" Josh yelled.

  He slashed at the chain with his sword, sparks flying, but the metal was reinforced.

  A head popped over the rim. It wasn't a normal kobold. It was a Reaver, wielding two jagged axes, its face painted with white skulls. It vaulted the wall with frightening speed, landing on the platform.

  "On me!" Bhel roared, charging.

  The Reaver parried Bhel’s axe and spun, kicking the dwarf back. It hissed, eyeing Brett’s exposed back.

  Josh activated Shield Bash. He didn't try to cut the Reaver; he treated it like a tackling dummy. He slammed the flat of his shield into the creature's chest, driving the air from its lungs. The Reaver stumbled back, its heels catching on the wall.

  "Get off my tower!" Josh shouted, shoving it.

  The Reaver flailed, claws scratching uselessly against Josh’s shield, and tipped backward. It fell fifty feet, screaming all the way down until the scream was cut short by the wet thud of impact.

  "More hooks!" Perberos warned, putting an arrow into a climbing hand.

  Three more hooks clattered over the edge on the eastern side.

  "They're swarming the tower!" Josh realised. "They know the fire is coming from here! They want to silence the artillery!"

  Josh and Bhel became a two-man whirlwind. They ran from hook to hook, hacking at chains, kicking fingers, and shield-bashing faces. It was exhausted, desperate work. Every time they cleared a section, another hook appeared.

  "I can't shoot and guard!" Perberos shouted, firing an arrow into a climber's face at point-blank range. "We're getting overrun!"

  Just as a second Reaver pulled itself onto the platform, the door to the tower stairs burst open. Josh spun, sword drawn, expecting a breach from below.

  It wasn't kobolds.

  It was a squad of six elven rangers, panting and covered in soot, bows in hand.

  "Reinforcements!" the lead ranger gasped, seeing the Reaver. He didn't hesitate. He drew a dagger and lunged, stabbing the creature in the kidney while Josh held its attention. "Captain sent us. Said you needed volume of fire."

  They kicked the carcass off the edge together.

  "Take the line!" Josh ordered, pointing to the crenellations. "Target the back ranks! Stop them from reinforcing the front! We'll handle the climbers!"

  The rangers moved with fluid grace, taking positions alongside Perberos. Within seconds, the volume of arrows raining down on the horde tripled. The air hummed with the sound of bowstrings, thrum, thrum, thrum, a deadly rhythm.

  The effect was immediate. The pressure on the portal entrance eased. With seven archers and a fire mage suppressing the area, the kobolds couldn't maintain their density. A semi-permanent kill zone was established, a circle of death where nothing could stand for more than a few seconds.

  "We're holding it!" Brett yelled, launching a Fireball into a shaman's face, interrupting a lightning spell and clearing the area around it. "The zone is clear!"

  Josh looked down, leaning over the parapet. Brett was right. For the first time in hours, the cobblestones directly in front of the portal were visible. They were blackened, cracked, and slick with grease and ash, but they were clear of bodies.

  The rangers settled into a rhythm. They were fresh, their aim true. They picked off the larger targets, leaving Brett to handle the swarms.

  Josh stepped back, leaning against the central pillar of the tower. He poured a water skin over his head, the cool liquid shock clearing some of the fog from his mind. He watched Bhel checking the stairwell door, ensuring it was barred.

  Then, Josh looked at the sky.

  The sky was invisible, choked out by the smoke; the only real light came from the orange glow of the rift and the burning fires of Brett’s magic. He did a mental calculation. The breach had started just before noon. They had fought the retreat, held the gate, rested, fought the sappers, and now held the tower.

  "Four hours," Josh whispered.

  Bhel heard him. The dwarf lowered the rock he was holding, his expression sobering. "Aye. Four hours."

  Four hours was a long time in a dungeon. It was enough time to clear a floor. It was enough time to beat a boss. It was enough time for a party to finish their run, collect their loot, and head for the exit, laughing about their close calls.

  It was enough time to finish a run.

  Josh looked at the black, swirling void of the portal. It wasn't just spewing monsters anymore. It was pulsing. The rhythm of the void had changed.

  "They're coming," Josh said, a cold dread settling in his stomach that had nothing to do with the battle. "The delvers. They're due."

  He moved to the edge, looking down at the kill zone. It was clear now, but it wouldn't stay that way. As soon as someone stepped out, the horde would react.

  "Hold fire on the centre!" Josh roared at the rangers, his voice cutting through the wind. "If you see humanoids, hold fire! Do not shoot the portal! I repeat, friendly fire is possible!"

  The rangers looked confused, their rhythm interrupted. "The Captain said—"

  "The Captain said clear the zone," Josh snapped. "But there are people inside that dungeon. And they're coming out. If you put an arrow in a dwarf, I'll throw you off this wall myself."

  The lead ranger nodded slowly. "Understood. Watch your targets."

  "Brett," Josh said, moving to the mage and gripping his shoulder. The fabric of Brett’s robe was hot to the touch. "Get ready. Shift to defensive."

  "Defensive?" Brett blinked, his eyes adjusting from the glare of the fire.

  "As soon as someone steps out... you barrier them," Josh ordered. "You protect them. You buy them a second to breathe. Understand?"

  "I... I understand," Brett stammered, his eyes fixed on the black tear in reality. "Barrier. Got it."

  The battle raged on around them. Arrows flew, magic exploded, and the roar of the kobold at the gate continued its terrifying percussion. But Josh’s world narrowed down to that single, swirling point of darkness in the centre of the crater.

  Any second now, the portal would flash. And someone—maybe Bun or Bean—would step out of the frying pan and into the fire.

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