Javelinas had been hunted nearly to extinction in the Tutorial. Or, at least, that was what TJ had thought until this moment. The heavy cavalry disabused him of that supposition as a pack of 15 javelinas with shield-toting pukwudgies on their backs rushed the south wall. Their steps thundered as they rushed the wall.
"Stanton!" TJ screamed for the Acolyte. Even so, he didn't hesitate to throw himself southward. If one of the walls was destroyed this early, then they wouldn't have any prayer of surviving for another 18 hours. Deciding that slowing the attack would be the best option available to him, TJ activated Divine Transformation and threw himself off the wall. He slithered towards the cavalry, moving much more quickly than the mere Dirt rank pigs could manage.
Stanton's gun coughed out a dozen shots in short order, but the pukwudgies' raised shields staved off the assault. The quick shots were replaced by one thunderous explosion, and the shield in one of the goblins' hands shattered into so many matchsticks. That same shot blasted the pukwudgie from its saddle. Its body tumbled to the ground, unmoving. With so much power in Stanton's attack, TJ refused to be outmatched. He strengthened his coatl form with Divine Manifestation and, as his Attributes all rose even higher, he smashed into the broadside of the nearest javelina.
Their steely aura fought to drive him off, but through sheer force TJ's jaws found a javelina's neck. It squealed in panic and pain, but TJ ignored it and the pukwudgie smashing his shield against his head. Lifting the massive beast aloft, he smashed it down into the next two charging pigs. Then, with another two out of commission, he hurled the mostly limp javelina's body at the next javelina. It tripped, throwing its pukwudgie out of the saddle.
Four down, eleven to go.
TJ snapped his jaws at whatever flesh he could reach, his strengthened, monstrous jaws ripping limbs free with each snap. Their aura fought to drive him off, but he was too strong. Even so, he and Stanton were the only ones able to pierce through the Skill or Aura or whatever that kept them charging all together. A dozen arrows and other attacks plinked uselessly off the enemy, and though TJ felled eight of the javelinas in time, the other seven charged straight into the wall.
Wood splintered and branches were crushed to pulp as the javelinas made first contact. The walls held steady, but where that attack had landed, an obvious weakness was made. As pukwudgies leapt off their mounts onto the walls, Zealots, Acolytes, and Neophytes fought to stand their ground. TJ stopped amplifying himself with Divine Manifestation as he continued ravaging the significantly slowed javelinas, ensuring they couldn't wreak more havoc nor retreat and carry more of the pukwudgies into battle. Despite his best efforts, two of the javelinas were able to turn and sprint back into the forest's cover, squealing the entire way.
On the walls, the defenders fought hard, but except for Sarah, they were unprepared for the sturdy, shield-wielding pukwudgies. The monsters stood together in a remarkably well-disciplined line, their spears lancing out in regular strikes against the defenders. TJ continued ripping into the javelinas on the ground, ensuring that none of the creatures survived. Just as he considered going up there, Sarah roared and smashed through three shields in one blow. As soon as their protection was taken away, Farid threw three spears in quick succession and each of the pukwudgies expired with a two-pronged javelin piercing both eyes.
The monsters fell, and it wasn't long before their fellows were slain as well.
"Are there any more coming?" TJ called up to the defenders on the wall. They shouted around, and less than 30 seconds later, the answer came.
"The ranged cavalry has retreated as well. No sign of any enemies!"
TJ relaxed as he deactivated Divine Transformation and took his Spear in hand. With the javelinas weakened and no pressing danger, he dispatched the creatures with the weapon. Any time he could get to recover cooldowns while still in the early stages would be ideal. He hadn't wanted to use Divine Manifestation so soon, but without it, he was convinced that there would have been real damage to the fortifications, and possibly casualties. The Spear cut through the thick-skinned monsters with ease, and as soon as he was done, TJ looked back to the walls.
Plenty of people were keeping their attention outward, ready for any attack from the monsters, but nothing came.
"Keep an eye out!" TJ commanded. "I'll gather in the javelinas for food or barricading, whatever we need."
"Aye aye!" Sarah replied, her hatchet held in hand. "I hope you leave me some more next time! I'm just one level away from getting that level 20 Skill!"
"Sure." TJ called back.
"Actually…" Sarah jumped over the wall, her casual hop taking her at least 15 feet away from her starting position. "I'll be better down here with you for now."
She ran off to the furthest javelinas and tossed two over her shoulders before running back and tossing them over the wall. Then, helping TJ, they quickly gathered the other corpses. They decided to bring them all back into the fort where they could later choose what they wanted to do with the thousands of pounds of newly dead monster pig. As soon as he hopped back into the fort, TJ checked his resources. With his MP recovered by about 200, it had only been 15 minutes since this all started. He sighed.
"Any casualties?" He asked the nearest Disciple, Granny Penny.
"No, but it was close. Harrison lost an eye and we've had two people pass out from blood loss. Nobody's died, which is a damn miracle with those spear throwers. Thanks for that."
"Glad I could help." TJ sighed in relief. "Those cavalry're gonna be something we need to figure out how to deal with, and fast."
Before there could be any response, Laura suddenly shouted "News!" from the center of the fort. Most people turned to look at her as her shout interrupted conversations and other preparations.
"Listen, but keep watching outside of the walls!" She shouted again, making most people turn back to what they were doing as she continued speaking. "The System is giving a lot more information now. Here's what we know! The System originally allocated 100 monsters for every person in the Tutorial, and even though we never saw more than 180 people, there were 200 in here, meaning that there were 20,000 monsters in our Tutorial. We killed 62% of them, so a bit more than 12,000. The 'Final Additional Monsters' that were spawned made for an additional 2,000, taking the total number of monsters coming against us just under 10,000."
Whispers of worry and fear filled the fort, but Laura wasn't done yet.
"In addition, there was one Elite spawned for every 10 people in the Tutorial, making 20 total, and we killed 11 of the original 20. Beyond that, the 'additional Elites' the System messaged are, we think 20 more in total. Our current guess is that the Chindi and wendigo killed yesterday were the additional ones slain. If we're right, that means that there are 27 Elites in the Tutorial, counting the one that's become the final Boss.
"There is some good news!" Laura explained. "The waves the System mentioned. This first wave will be 25% of all those monsters. They are required to attempt to attack the base before they are able to retreat to any form of safety, and they must attempt to attack the base 30 minutes before the next wave comes. A new wave begins every six hours, with that guaranteed 30 minutes after each one where all surviving monsters must have already attacked. The second and third waves will be comprised of 30 and 45% of the total number of the monsters left, respectively."
TJ's mind did the math. That meant that in this first wave, there would be about 2500 non-Elite monsters and six or seven Elites. Something else that the opening of this whole mess had mentioned stuck with him.
"How many Copper monsters were there in the Tutorial?"
"One." Laura nodded to him as she said as much. "It will serve as the leader of the third wave."
TJ let out a long, loud breath. That was as reassuring as it could be, he supposed. Or would he prefer that it not come with the largest wave, instead coming in this first, smallest one? No reason to think about it, it was best to just deal with what he had right now.
"That's all for now! We've counted a total of 527 monsters that have attacked in some way in this opening wave. We suspect that they'll focus less on heavy attacks for now, instead focusing on harrying us and keeping our people from recovering as much as possible. If you need healing, come get it, the Disciples are working hard to keep themselves as close to full to keep everyone alive. No reason to let a wound get worse."
There was little response to her closing statement, but people perked up and several retreated from the walls to stand near Disciples who tended to wounds as quickly as they could manage. Not five minutes later, though, Stanton squeezed three shots off as he shouted, "Sneaky bastards!"
No sooner did Stanton break the stillness did pukwudgie birdlike screeches fill the air. TJ, who'd been patrolling the north and west sides of the fort, turned around and saw at least one hundred nearly invisible pukwudgies rushing forward, already almost halfway through the clearing. Most sprinted together, marching on the eastern wall. Taking note of his diminished MP, TJ didn't do anything immediately, though the Acolytes all fired on the attacking monsters. With their previous stealth, they'd gotten quite close, and maybe 15 seconds later, the sounds of physical battle begin.
The pukwudgies didn't carry shields, their only equipment their spears, but with so many on a wall only manned by 15 people, severe injuries immediately swelled in number. People scream in agony, only Jeff standing as a mostly unharmed Zealot on the front lines. For the briefest second, TJ suspected the man, but Jeff screamed in challenge and threw himself at whatever monster came near with reckless abandon. He was lower level than most of the Participants and struggled to deal deadly blows, but he refused to back down or show fear.
"Go, support them." TJ commanded the squad at the north wall. "I'll keep this part safe, just in case."
His words were punctuated by a surge in screams of panic as some of the pukwudgies overcame the wall and threw themselves towards the Disciples. They weren't able to do too much damage immediately, though, as the rest of the defending Participants rushed off the walls to protect their healers. Pukwudige dying screams filled the air, and TJ had half a mind to go help them as well. However, he had enough presence of mind to watch outside the walls. It was just as well, as he saw another troop of 10 javelinas gathering to charge at the same walls already overwhelmed with dying pukwudgies.
"Oh, come on." TJ groaned to himself as he threw himself over the wall to block the charge as he activated Divine Transformation. That was, of course, when the second troop of cavalry riders appeared.