As if speaking of him had summoned the man, Colonel Wilkes walked in with his team, and gave a friendly wave to Karl’s team as they loaded their plates and sat down.
But no sooner did they get seated than the attack alarm went off, and everyone began to rise from their seats.
“Where is our spot on the line?” Karl asked Morgana as they prepared to head out.
“Last one on the right flank, where you entered yesterday.”
Karl nodded, then turned to the other group, who were getting ready to leave.
“Acceptable response time is three minutes. Shovel food in your mouth fast and then jog over. You’ve got the time, and you’ll need the energy.” He instructed, then led his team out the door.
It was strange to be going to battle without his backpack, which was safely stowed in the fort, along with everyone else’s. But that didn’t change their arrangement, and the two clerics hopped on Thor, while Rae strapped Dana to her back and Hawk took to the sky.
Morgana was running alongside them, doing her best to keep up, and nearly succeeding. She wasn’t a warrior class, but those enhancements that she had tattooed onto her body were no joke. They took the end of the line, behind the final few pikes, and waited as the Hill Giants came into view.
“Where does the Remi usually stay for the battle?” Morgana asked. “Either in her space or in my pocket. Would you like to hold her for a while?” Karl asked. The two seemed like they could be good friends, with Morgana’s puppets and Remi’s totems.
Morgana held out her hand, and Remi slithered up her arm to loop around her neck and put her face right beside Morgana’s so they were looking at the same things.
Lotus giggled as the snake nuzzled against the Witch Doctor’s cheek, and Thor’s [Refreshing Lightning] barrier stretched out to encompass her as well.
“Well, it looks like you’re one of us now. The barrier only works on the ones that Thor considers friends.” Karl informed her with a smile, while Morgana gave the Lightning Cerro a shy smile.
It seemed to evaporate the aura of professionalism, and made it obvious that Morgana was no older than Lotus or Tessa, who had also graduated from their Academy last year.
The second team wasn’t far behind, though they were running at a mage’s speed, so they stayed together, and they were carrying slices of egg battered toast with them, eating on the way. Chances are, when everyone cleared out of the mess hall, they had been too embarrassed to stay, but if the fight didn’t last long, their meals would still be there when they returned. It wasn’t like the Academy had kept someone back to clean up the mess while they were fighting.
Everyone in the Camp was an Awakened Rank or higher Elite, including the staff, and many of the Awakened Rank students had been left behind with the Common Rank students at the Academy for their own safety. What percentage Karl couldn’t say, but there weren’t many of them here at the border. The camp was almost all Ascended or higher.
The group under Colonel Wilkes fell in between Karl’s group and the rest of the line, looking much more nervous than anyone in the more experienced group. Even from where he was standing at the end of the line, Karl could see most of their hands shaking.
Tessa smiled at the students. “Seamus, the Giants are just over that next hill. Why don’t you strum us a little inspirational ditty? Something with a nice rhythm.” “Um, okay. I think I know a good one. Do you have a preference?” He stammered.
[Baby Snake Do do dah do do do] Remi sang in Karl’s mind.
It was a species modified version of the theme song of a popular children’s morning radio broadcast, which aired at seven in the morning, making it the bane of parents everywhere. But how Remi had ever heard it was a mystery.
Karl ignored the happy snake and made his own suggestion. “Why don’t we go for something fun? Do you know any drinking songs?” “A drinking song, now?” Seamus asked.
“Definitely. See how nervous everyone is? A nice upbeat drinking song to take their minds off the battle is just what they need.” Karl agreed.
Seamus strummed the intro to a popular pop song, then adjusted his lute and slid a metal tube onto his finger. When he strummed again, the tone was entirely different, and the nearby students began to laugh as he played. They were still laughing as the Giants came over the hill and into attack range. All of the nervous hesitation was gone, and when the order was given to raise the pikes, the entire row went up in unison, as if they had actually trained the manoeuvre. From the Hill Giant ranks, thousands of rocks, from baseball to boulder size, were magically hurled at the human defenders, crashing into shields as the ever present artillery fell silent, protected by the mages from the wrath of the Giants’ Earth Magic.
The larger boulders exploded on impact with the shields, sending shrapnel everywhere, and forcing the mages to work to keep up the barriers over the defence lines. Thankfully, their fort was far enough back that it wouldn’t be in danger from the secondary damage.
[Just hold until the order is given.] Karl reminded his beasts.
Lotus climbed down from Thor’s back, and Dana got down from Rae, preparing to cast her [Golem] spell.
{Golems Forward, break the charge.} The radio announced when the Hill Giants were thirty metres away, and already under attack by the mages.
The Spider Golems only took three steps before launching themselves into the air, crossing the gap in a dull green streak of motion. But right beside them were two floating balls of fire, the Fire Elementals summoned by Colonel Wilkes.
Karl began to fire his bow, sending [Chain Lightning] through the attackers, who stumbled under the onslaught.
[Haste], [Terrorize] and [Brutality] all came online, increasing the size, speed, strength and damage done by himself and the Golems. That was enough that the [Chain Lightning] was actually stunning the Ascended Hill Giants, who died in a spray of blood as the Spider Golems raced between them.
Then the six small sand golems created by Mick, the bald mage student in the second group, reached the battle with Dana’s Stone Golems, and the Hill Giants began to flail about at the ground, trying to hit the annoying things slicing at their legs.
The tactic was brutally effective, as it left them vulnerable to the attacks of the other Golems, as well as Karl’s arrows and the attacks of the mages in their section of the line.
Most of the charge was continuing, but their end of the line had completely faltered under the weight of the attacks. Then Mick turned the soft soil to soft sand, and the giants began to sink and stumble, turning the rout into a massacre, where they couldn’t even retreat.
Reinforcements from the back lines of the assault were on their way in Karl’s direction, but they wouldn’t last long, as Hawk was bombarding them with fireballs. Mick was panting with exertion as he remade his Golems again and tried to keep the sand trap active against the efforts of the Hill Giants to turn it back to stone, but Colonel Wilkes stopped him.
“That’s what the pikes are for, son. Save your energy for later in the fight.” The Colonel reminded him.
{Pikes Forward.} the radio ordered, sending a wave of warriors forwards into the Hill Giants with long spears in front of them, so they were out of the reach of the attackers. The mages were getting tired, but the warriors hadn’t done anything yet, so it was their turn to take over while the mages slowed and regained their energy.
[That’s our signal. Forwards on me.] Karl ordered Rae and Thor.
Behind them, he saw Remi create a totem in both of Morgana’s hands for the Witch Doctor to hold up, so they could fire over the crowd. Morgana was laughing, as holding the totems prevented her from using most of her spells, but Remi thought it was a brilliant idea, and she could just make more when they expired, since she was attached to the Witch Doctor anyhow.
“Seamus, we need a party song!” Karl shouted as he raced forward with the beasts.
This time the bard had a bit more confidence, and his song took on the notes of a hard rock guitar as he began to sing along, strengthening the [Inspiration] bonus as he followed the warriors forward.
The rhythm of the bow in time with the music was a comfort to Karl as he ran forward, firing arrows twice a second and spreading [Chain Lightning] everywhere.
Tessa speared a Commander Rank Giant, tilting his body back, right before Thor gored him and tossed the body back behind the lines.
That made a small gap, and Rae recalled her spider Golems to join her ahead of Thor, establishing a breach in the lines and leaving the outermost twenty Hill Giants cut off from their comrades as they were surrounded and eliminated.