A loud, but low growl could be heard from the nearby bushes. Those weren’t wolves, but something more ferocious. The squads mobilized to protect the construction bots. Leifren fired the first shot. His aim was true as the bullet went into the creature’s head.

  The creatures countered and emerged from the bushes. Corpse Tigers. A whole pack of them. The sound from Leifren’s gunshot also stirred the Corpse crows nearby, and they joined the battle against them.

  Carolus took the iniative and led the counterattack. His dual wielding, paired with Rin’s spell slinging made for a deadly combination. He took down a group of five tigers with ease. The tigers proved resilient and continued the fight.

  Avryn’s squad was assigned to protect the transport wagons. Some of the tigers went for the them.

  “Alright, guys, let’s do this,” he rallied the defense.

  Bullets and slashes met against the vicious claws of their opponents. They relied on focus firing one tiger each to take them down. Fyllbar’s squad came in and assisted them in that task.

  Something was stirring in this battleground, but no squad knew what was happening. They would have to wait until the end. The tigers continued their assault. Some of them focused their rage on the construction bots, whose noise was irritating them. The squads redoubled their efforts on defending the robots.

  “Come on, everyone, just forty five minutes to go,” Carolus jested.

  Carolus’s group was just toying with the tigers. The gap in skill was as wide as a canyon. His team was eliminating them with great haste.

  “Tanna, Darren, go help the other groups, me and Rin got this,” he instructed them.

  The two went down to help the other groups defending the robots on the other side. Avryn’s group just finished up their side, and were surveying for more threats. Wolves had entered the fray after hearing the sound of battle. They fought both the soldiers and the tigers. All were fair game to them. Avryn’s squad were on it quick. Avryn switched to his dual pistols, combined with the firepower of his and Leifren’s group, their combined bullets and arrows made quick work of the wolves. The corpses were piling up high and quick.

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  A rush of adrenaline reinvigorated Avryn. He was smiling ear to ear. His heart was soaring. He switched up styles and dual wielded Luther and Lerosa. Mirroring Carolus, he cut a path through the tigers and wolves.

  “We’re needing some help on this side!” a soldier up in the front exclaimed.

  Rinna turned to Avryn.

  “Go, we got this.”

  Avryn nodded and went to assist the front. He jumped up from the wagon and landed to the swarm of Corpses. He was back to back with Carolus.

  “Ah, the man of the hour,” he said.

  “Thought Rin was with you?”

  “She went to help the others.”

  They began to fight together. Their dual wielding skills combined wiped out all of the Corpses in their path.

  “Aye, you’re pretty good, Avryn. But can you do this?”

  Carolus twisted and turned with inhuman speed. He sent a flurry of slashes against his enemies and made them into minced meat. He ran even faster, targetting any Corpse he could find. Avryn’s jaw was agape from seeing Carolus in action up close.

  The ground was rumbling beneath them. Something was stirring. The ground opened up just beneath the transport wagons. Dark stone moved away the earth. An eye of deep purple was surveying its target.

  “Woah, a golem. We just woke it up,” Carolus sized it up. “I’m ready for some fun.”

  Another golem emerged from the front of him. Carolus licked his chops. Major Shalshukein rallied the defense.

  “Defend the wagons and the robots. We got half an hour left to go!” he shot at the other golem.

  The battle shifted drastically from the emergence of the golems. The rest of Carolus’s squad arrived. Rin tapped Avryn on the shoulder.

  “Leave this one to us, you and your friends handle the other one,” she said.

  Avryn looked at the situation. The golem at the back was wreaking havoc at the backline. Several soldiers were on the creature and tried hacking at it. The hard stone answered their weapons in kind. The golem shot a laser with its eye. Concentrated flames in the form of light passed through.

  “There has to be a weakness,” Avryn muttered to himself.

  He ran up and helped with the effort, attempting to use Lerosa’s explosive shots to try to make a dent. It worked little as it only shaved off mere pebbles worth of rock. The golem wailed around, sending many soldiers flying. Even bullets were ineffective against it. Avryn retreated to survey the golem deeper. A group of wolves surrounded the golem and soldiers and joined in on the chaos. Avryn reunited with his squad and instructed them to get the wolves off of the other soldiers.

  He then felt a crushing embrace. The golem had grabbed him. He struggled to break free, only managing to free his hand. His pistol found its mark and shot the golem in its eye. The force sent it reeling back. A eureka moment. Avryn turned to Leifren.

  “Its eye is its weakness! Shoot it!”

  Leifren nodded. He took aim and pulled the trigger. The bullet managed to get the golem in its other eye. The rocks that comprised the golem started to loosen up and weakening. Avryn threw a grenade and popped it in the air. The explosion sent several of it rock parts flying. The rest of the soldiers saw this and pressed on their advantage. More and more rocks started falling off as the golem took more damage. Valoche finished off the golem with a mighty swing of his axe. The creature was now reduced to a pile of rubble.

  The battlefield started to pile with corpses as the battle slowed down to a halt. The outpost had been finished. Soldiers cheered as others tend to the wounded. Several soldiers were sent to populate the now finished outpost as its garrison.

  A week went by and the squads were paraded around Vistopolis. The jeeps passed through the opened streets of the city. Avryn and his friends basked in the glory. Cheers resonated in the air. It was a momentous occasion for them all. Avryn gave high fives to his friends.

  In the middle of it all, he felt a strange presence. Like someone was watching him. He shrugged it off and continued celebrating as the jeeps continued driving past.