Kingdom of Rust Chapter 35 (Patreon)

What greeted us was a group of humans, they appeared from down the street after only a few short minutes. But they didn’t rush us. Their dead red eyes stared at us, the group slowly splitting down the middle as a small figure of a cat made its way through to the front.

Instantly I tensed as I saw the unmistakable green growth on the creature's back, it was the source. A fucking cat had caused all of this death and destruction. But it wasn’t sprinting at us mindlessly. Its eyes flicked between us with cold intelligent calculation.

The hairs on my arm stood on end.

“Look out!” Holton shouted and I threw myself to the side as the very air I had been standing in a moment ago, ignited. I avoided the creature’s attack but my skin was still painfully burned. When I looked up, I saw a line of fire rolling into the sky as it dissipated.

Holton was already sprinting forward and for only the second time in my life, I heard one of the monsters make a noise. It opened its mouth and let out an unholy screech that made my ears ring. The infected humans, surrounding the creature, burst forward and I scrambled to my feet.

I pulled on all of my power and threw a dozen fist-sized rocks at the oncoming humans. I couldn’t spare any energy to correct their aim but most impacted their targets. Three of the humans went down and were crushed underfoot as the rest didn’t bother to stop. I injured another eight but the injuries only slowed them down.

Then I felt the gaze of the beast upon me. It practically blurred across the distance, avoiding Holton as it came straight for me.

I nearly stumbled as I came to a stop, the creature almost upon me. I pushed my body to its limit as I avoided a swipe of the beast’s claws.

The cat sailed past, landing on some rocks. The rocks bubbled and melted as the creature’s feet touched down and it twisted and leaped at me again.

I twisted out of the way again and lashed my sword out, trying to strike it but I only shaved off a few hairs from the end of its tail. I wasn’t fast enough and my body was already feeling the strain of fighting most of the night as I pushed it to keep up.

The creature turned again for another pounce and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to avoid it again. But a wave of fire shot toward it from Holton.

The creature saw this and tried to leap away but I used all of my remaining power to keep it firmly on the ground. I wasn’t completely successful as the creature managed to leap away before the fire completely engulfed it.

When I spotted it again, half of its body was burned away, leaving charred skin, exposed muscles, and bone. The creature didn’t seem to care as it turned its gaze toward Holton.

The man was too busy defending himself from the infected humans though. I heard the creaking, it reminded me of Master’s skill. Without thinking, I threw a rock at the monster. It wasn’t a calling assisted rock, just a normal rock.

The rock slammed into the cat’s head and it jerked its attention back toward me. The ominous creaking groan didn’t stop but it seemed to shift in my direction. I was going to die, I realized.

Just as the creaking came to a crescendo, the cat vanished into a pit. The opening slammed closed with an audible crack and a spray of blood. I turned and saw Master standing at the funnel-like exit to our fort.

“Quickly, go help Holton!” I nodded in thanks and ran over to help.

The man was holding off the infected people but he had taken a lot of wounds and his left arm hung limply at his side. I struck from the rear, severing spines. It was the only thing that seemed to stop these things quickly. I took down two before I started to be attacked as well.

It took another ten minutes to clear out the infected. Holton eventually got pissed and produced a wave of fire that killed most of them. But the effort left him drained and I had to drag him back to our fort.

The man grudgingly thanked me as I set him inside the walls. That left me to keep the infected at bay until they recovered. I don’t know why he called them in like that and I didn’t have time to ponder it. While there weren’t dozens of infected streaming in like before, there was still a steady stream of the red-eyed monsters. I continued killing the incoming threats, getting more and more exhausted. They were back to their mindless aggression now that the source monster was dead.

By the end of the hour, the only thing keeping me going was the overflow of energy that kept repairing my sore muscles. Finally, I heard Master speak up.

“I’m ready.” I didn’t spare a glance back as I still had infected coming at me but I felt the rumble all around me.

Then the whole area shook and I stumbled against the wall, using my shield to brace against the rough surface. The repaired strap broke and the buckler fell to the ground but I ignored it as I stared forward. A massive section of the city had sunken into the ground leaving me free of any enemies to fight. Lacking any energy, I slid down the wall and passed out.

Someone shook me awake and I could only groan as the hours of fighting had left me feeling wrung out. I had drunk to excess a few times and this was worse. Even my miraculous healing hadn’t been able to completely banish the muscle aches from swinging a sword for that long.

“Wake up, Bakus,” Master said, shaking me gently. “We aren’t done yet.”

With a groan, I got to my feet. “How long was I out?” I asked, looking around. It seemed Master had moved me into the walled portion. I saw Holton sitting by a small fire, his eyes closed.

“You were asleep for twenty minutes. But we must move to the next section so we can keep the remaining monsters contained.”

I nodded as I tried to stand, only to fail. I felt Master reach under my arm and help lift me from the ground.

“I’m sorry you have to be put through this but it needs to be done. Your muscles should loosen up after a bit of movement, just take it slow and brace against the wall.”

I nodded again, leaning against the wall for support as I tried to steady my shaking legs.

Master walked over to Holton. “Are you sufficiently recovered to continue on?”

Holton’s eyes snapped open. “Yeah, I should be good. Thanks for the fire by the way.”

“No need to thank me, we need you to recover as much as possible.”

“Fair enough,” the man said, getting to his feet. His arm still hung loosely at his side and I heard him grunt as he checked it with his other hand. “Gonna need a sling,” he mumbled.

He walked over to one of the dead bodies and ripped the shirt off. I watched him quietly as he tied the shirt into a circle and slipped it over his head. Then he set his broken arm in the fabric.

My disgust at his actions must have shown on my face because when he looked up, he frowned. “What, he don’t need it no more.”

“I didn’t say anything,” I protested.

Holton snorted, “didn’t have to, your eyes said it all for ya. Needs must and all that, not like I’m robbing the guy.”

Before our little spat devolved into something more serious, Master cut in. “Are we ready?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, let's get this shit day over with, I need a fucking drink,” Holton said.

We repeated the process of sinking the city over the next few hours. Eventually, Master Thea and Laris rode up looking even worse than us.

“Master Mgumba,” Thea saluted.

I saw her eyes narrow as she glanced at Holton but she didn’t say anything.

“Where’s Matteos?” Master asked.

Thea shook her head. “He fell when his horse was overwhelmed. It’s my fault, I forgot he wasn’t a very good rider,” she choked out, tears filling her eyes.

“He knew the risks as well as the rest of us,” Master said with conviction.

Thea nodded, “He managed to take his attackers with him though, so he went down a hero.”

Master nodded. “We will add him to the wall of the fallen when we return. Was there any other trouble?”

“No, we ran into a few packs of fleeing civilians and per your order made sure they weren’t a threat.”

Master sighed. “Thank you for your report, get a bit of rest, then I need you to locate Master Estos and circle the city looking for any other infected. We will join you once our work here is complete.”

Master Thea dismounted and tied her rose to a tree. “Good to see you made it, Bakus, although, I see you picked up a stray,” she said that last part loud enough for Holton to hear and I heard the man snort.

“Yeah… Sorry about Matteos, I liked the man.”

“Thank you, now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sleep for a bit and recover.”

I nodded at both of them. Laris was silent and looked haunted. Without a word, he plopped down on the ground and was asleep even before Thea.

***

There were no other casualties during this mission, just cleanup, and patrols looking for anyone that might have escaped. It was worse than we imagined and we found people hiding in caves and gulleys. Most were in the mid-stages of the infection. Putting them down was a mercy at this point but it felt so much harder than when I had to do it in the city.

The worst was when we came across a family of five. The wife was caring for her sick husband and one sick kid. But she along with the other kids had scratches caused by either the sick child or husband when their minds failed them. I looked away as Master simply collapsed the cave they were sheltering in.

Thankfully it seemed we reacted fast enough to save the next town over. To make sure nothing cropped up, Thea and Estos were left to monitor the town. The rest of us headed back to the tower, everyone except Holton that is.

“Well, Bakus, you did well. And don’t think I forgot that you saved my ass. I’ll see you in a few months for training. I need to recover and report this incident to Gabrielle.”

I smiled tersely at the man and earned a chuckle. Then Holton turned toward Master Mgumba. “You got a good man here, make sure he doesn’t die a stupid pointless death.”

“We train so that won’t happen. But I can’t guarantee anything. Life is chaotic.”

Holton grunted at Master’s words before turning his horse and trotting away.

The trip back to the Tower was done in silence and introspection. More so for the initiates who hadn’t experienced something on this scale or the loss of a friend. But even Master Mgumba wasn’t immune to the effects this mission had. I never thought I would have seen the man age even more than he already was but that’s what I saw. He looked older now, somehow frailer than he was before. He had taken on the mental cost of killing so many that I couldn’t even fathom how he felt. All I knew is that my sleep would be plagued by nightmares for the foreseeable future after the events we all went through.