Three shimmering circles appeared in the square, lixes beginning to jump out of them. And since Tailyn had never seen the terrifying beasts before, he froze, unable to move so much as a finger.
In a way, the lixes were similar to people: they had muscular, humanlike torsos featuring two pairs of albeit shriveled arms. But that was the end of the parallels. Their hind legs and heads were more reminiscent of awe-inspiring dogs that had been through more than their share of battles. All of them were riddled with scars, they were pockmarked, and sharp fangs peeked out of their open jaws. They moved around on four legs, the front and hind ones, while the middle legs were used to grab hold of their victims. And as the enormous red eyes of the nearest monsters stared at Tailyn, the boy felt something warm begin to trickle down his legs. The beasts roared, crouched, and leaped toward him.
“Forbidden!” called a voice from behind Tailyn, and the lixes were thrown back by a protective field. The boy had gotten lucky—the guard was defending the house of the god. But one attack wasn’t enough for the lixes, so they dashed forward once again after they gathered themselves. That time, the guard said nothing. It just hurled them away. One more attack, and the monsters’ snorts made it clear they’d had enough. They ran off down the street.
A loud screeching and scraping sound broke out. Tailyn, still rooted to the spot, turned to see that the lixes were dragging the mages’ wagon toward one of the shimmering circles. It was only then that the boy noticed the modified lix standing next to each of them. Standing on two legs, they were wearing armor, there was a long stick topped with a bright light in their middle paws, and the upper pair of paws held cards in the air. At least, Tailyn couldn’t for sure see that they were cards, though there was nothing else the little shining rectangles could be. A shadowy arm was reaching out of each card to embrace the circle next to it, almost as if protecting it from the dangers of the world.
Something deep inside the boy told him what they were: portals and the cards that opened them. Out of the portals jumped lixes, while the beasts already in the city dragged loot back into them—furniture, supplies, and, worst of all, living people, primarily women and boys. The wagon was included in their loot. The horses harnessed to it whinnied in terror, though the lixes dealt with them simply. About a dozen of the creatures threw themselves at the animals, tore them to pieces, and tossed chunks of hot flesh right into their mouths.
Tailyn vomited, even having eaten nothing the previous twenty-four hours. The site was sickening for the ten-year-old used to his peaceful, quiet life on the outskirts of the empire. Meanwhile, having polished off the horses, the lixes dragged the wagon over to the nearest portal and tossed it inside. Their cheer told the boy how happy they were with their loot.
“Shields up! Hold the line! Attack! One step forward! Attack!”
Motar’s voice rang out from the other side of the square. From around a corner, an even line of guards appeared, driving the lixes back as they came. They moved slowly, shoulder to shoulder, keeping their green opponents the length of their spears away. And even as sharp claws flashed, they proved powerless against the line of shields. With each barked order, the troop jabbed their spears forward in an effort to connect with the lixes, though the latter were just too fast. The monsters dodged, leaped over to the shields, and did their best to break through. And what had originally looked like a relentless forward press turned out to be anything but as the guards moved slowly and uncertainly. The line was far from even. As soon as they got out into open space, they came up against a new problem, too: the creatures started attacking from the sides.
“Semicircle! Hold the line! Attack! Don’t let them get any further!”
The guards’ triumphant forward march had come to an end. They blocked off the street leading to the trade district, beyond which was where the city’s wealthy citizenry lived. But still, just standing in place, the guards began sustaining losses. Tailyn watched in horror as an especially nimble lix jumped over to the shields only to grab one with its middle arms and yank it back instead of trying to beat through. Not expecting that move, the guard flew out of the line. A few seconds later, and the poor soul had been torn to pieces. His place in the formation was taken by another guard, but the lixes had a new strategy. One guard after another flew into the middle of the square with a wild shriek. A moment later, their shriek was reduced to a gargle as they choked on their own blood.
“Retreat! One step back! Hold the line!”
Motar quickly figured out that he had no business being there and decided to save the remainder of his troops. That helped—the pikes were crowded closer together in the narrow alley, keeping the lixes from getting in between them. But the green beasts kept pouring out of the portals. Unable to get through to the trade quarters, they headed up the other two streets. One of them led to the main gate, which wasn’t a problem; the other led directly to where the regular townsfolk lived.
With happy shouts, a few of the beasts dashed over to the portals, the senseless bodies of women flopping on their backs. Girls, actually—Tailyn recognized one of them as a friend of his. Ten-year-old Bula was a farmer who’d already gotten to level two. Tailyn’s face fell. He wanted to help, but there was nothing he could do. As soon as he left the steps, he would have been devoured.
“Push, boys! We have to stop them! Attack the beasts!”
A warm feeling grew in Tailyn’s chest. On the street leading to the residential quarter, an armed crowd appeared. It wasn’t as uniform as Motar’s crew, and half of it was just farmers and lumberjacks, but there were some city guards in among them with shields and pikes. Tekhor, Motar’s second-in-command, was heading them up.
The second group took losses as well, though they pushed the lixes back onto the square with sheer numbers. Equally unable to land any hits on the creatures, they still kept coming, teeth gritted. Retreat wasn’t an option—their defenseless families were behind them. The lixes quickly applied their newfound strategy by jumping over to the guards and trying to toss them out onto the square by their shields. And though it took them a while to begin making ground, the first guard was finally yanked out of the crowd.
He landed not far from the stairs to the temple. Another meter, and he would have been within the protection of the god, but he was not so lucky. The crazed animals descended on him. Once again, the whole thing happened so quickly that nobody had any time to react.
Almost nobody.
Alchemist Tailyn Vlashich.
You used Enhanced Shield-I 29 times.
Guard Georn’s shield was enhanced by 464.
Charges remaining: 21 of 50.
Tailyn only stopped when his lungs ran out of air and he was no longer able to blow on the card. A crowd of lixes were on top of Georn, but none of them was able to break through is new shield. While Tailyn was still just a weak mage, and his card was just at level one, it was still enough for the guard to get his wits about him, pull out his sword, and bury it in one of the creatures. A wail was heard round the square as the lix was too slow to dodge the attack. It was the defenders’ first victory.