My (Monster?) Hero Life

The air was thick with tension as the two sides watched on as Kace led his group forwards. The heroes on the battlements began to prepare their weapons and spells. Archers began to pick out their targets as the distance slowly closed. However, Kace suddenly stopped while they were still out of reach of the city and its defences.

Kace cast a cold stare at the people lining the walls before raising Sylvan into the air. Then, slowly, he lowered Sylvan to point towards the city. A battle cry went up as Kace, and the Tu'Thrag suddenly disappeared into the shadow realm while the natives sunk into the earth. Screams of panic went up all along the walls as they suddenly lost sight of their enemies!

The captains on the wall called out for order as they scanned the surroundings for any sign of what they should expect. Minutes passed slowly, but nothing happened. The mass of monsters that had stayed behind did not show any signs of movement. This worried the captains because it told them that the main army was waiting for something.

The captains gathered together to discuss the situation. It was evident that the monster army had begun their offensive, but they had no idea what it was that they had planned. Monsters were unpredictable at the best of times, so the disappearance of so many of them at once caused a lot of tension. 

"Are you blind? There was obviously Sand Crawlers (Natives) amongst that group! They're probably planning on destabilising the walls! If they come down, we're finished!" One captain shouted at the others.

"No. I don't think so. How long would it take them to achieve that? It does not seem like they have brought a lot of supplies compared to the previous armies. So I doubt they're here for the long haul." A female captain replied hesitantly.

"What do you suggest then?" The previous captain retorted. "We can't just sit here and let them take the initiative! Maybe we should take the fight to them!"

"Don't be stupid!" The woman snorted in derision. "You know as well as I do that those monsters out there are more than strong enough to handle our forces in the open! Plus, we would have to cross that zone of infected bodies. How would you explain it to the higher-ups if we lost the entire city to the infection because of that!"

"I don't know! Fuck! That Erik bastard took his people and retreated from here as soon as the outbreak began! He could have stayed behind to help us sort out this mess!" 

It was needless to say that the captains' nerves grew thin in the face of such adversity. First, they had to deal with a sudden plague that killed many valuable assets. Then, right as they thought they had the situation under control, a massive monster army appeared right on their doorstep! They threw hostile words at each other as they failed to come to an agreement. They failed to realise that they had been caught up in their argument for a few hours.

"Captain! Something is happening!" A soldier suddenly shouted, drawing their attention.

However, what they saw left them dumbfounded. The fires in the pits were disappearing even though they should still burn for another day at least. Suddenly, shouts of panic went up in various different areas of the city. A chill ran down the collective spines of the captains. Whatever the monsters had planned, it was now clear that they were too latter stop it!

Reports slowly began to come in, and it did not look good at all. The infected bodies from the pits had started to appear on random streets and even inside some houses! The captains began to sweat profusely as they finally understood the natives' role in that assault. They were using their earth abilities to dig the deceased out of the pits and transporting them behind enemy lines!

The captains were now caught in a dilemma. It was necessary to allocate troops to clean up the infected, but that would expose them to the plague as well as weaken their defensive line. However, if they did not do it, they could lose the city to the epidemic without getting a chance to confront their enemies in battle!

This move was simply too vicious! They now found themselves with two battlefronts to manage and not enough personal for the job. There was no way that they could gather volunteers either. So far, anyone that had caught the plague had died without exception as far as they knew. With heavy expressions, the captains finally agreed to send half of their reserves to deal with the mess inside the city.

However, before they could issue the order, they suddenly heard blood-curdling screams from the soldiers guarding the gate below them. The captains rushed to peer over the walls only to witness the soldiers below losing their lives quickly to an onslaught of dark-skinned goblins that kept disappearing only to reappear a moment later!

"What are you doing! Take up defensive formations now! Protect each other!" The female captain roared as she watched the chaos unfolding. 

At that moment, all of the captains felt a suffocatingly cold pressure aimed at them from behind. Each of them broke out in a nervous sweat and glanced at each other with a helpless expression. Slowly, they turned one by one to discover the source of the pressure.

Calmly standing there amongst them was an armoured monster the likes that they had never seen before. Two horns grew out of his forehead, and he shared the same dark skin with the goblins below. His golden eyes with reptilian pupils stared mockingly at them as he tapped the bladed end of a cruel-looking halberd against the stone wall at his feet.

"We can talk about thi…" One of the captains began after swallowing a lump of saliva.

However, before he could complete his sentence, blood sprayed everywhere. Kace's move was so fast that nobody had a chance to react to it! In one swift, decisive action, Kace beheaded all five of the captains who had been standing close together in front of him.

"Sorry, I don't negotiate with cattle…" Kace grinned as he relished the feeling of bathing in their blood.