To Kill Gods or Die Trying

♐Chapter 54-Sagittarius♐

October 6th, 2305

We, the front guard, all rush towards the god. The half horse-quarter horse-quarter human thingy stands its ground. It's like a centaur with a horse head.

"Everyone! Get in formation!" I order.

As the Wizards and Beast Whisperers take to the skies, the Druids flank around the sides, the Bishops and Sorcerers set up behind it, the Snipers spread out in a circle to close off the battlefield. The Berzerkers, Assassins, Samurai, and Paladins move forward head-on like always.

It only takes 15 seconds for us to get into formation. "Good timing guys! Let's attack!" I say determined.

We rush forward towards Sagittarius who begins to gallop forward 200 feet away. It reaches behind to the quiver strapped to its back, pulls out a single arrow, then fires into the air. On its way down, out of nowhere, the sole arrow multiplies into thousands.

"Shit! Berzerkers! Shields, shields, shields!" I yell in a frenzy.

"Expand shield!" we all cry with our shields facing the sky.

We can hear the whistling of thousands of arrows raining down. Players scurry under Berzerkers' shields. Arrows bounce off of my shield like rain and dissipate. Almost every inch of the ground in front of us is hit by an arrow.

"Hey, it's running away!" someone cries.

The Bishops and Sorcerers begin engaging from the rear—the front guard rushing forward to physically attack, and the rear guard sending orbs of their power towards the god. Most get a good hit draining its health to 914x.

It fires an arrow into the grass. The ground begins to shake and Earth cracks open. As half of the front guard dodge the rapidly expanding crevasse, half stumble in, never to be seen again.

"Druids! Close that dammit!" Mack orders. 52 Druids place their hands on the ground and concentrate.

The ground vibrates violently, creating a massive Earthquake. I lose my balance and fall, but then the ground throws me about like a toy. I look around to see the ground cracking and distorting as godly force battles godly force. The crevasse begins to close at the price of other crevasses created.

It's not a good idea for melee to engage this fight. "Melee pull back!" I order. "Range! Take over!" With power like this, there's no way a dude with a sword can just get close to it. We switch places with the Snipers. "Whisperers! Pair up with Berzerkers!"

Sess flies over towards me with his Wyvern and I hop on behind him and hold on tight. One flap sends us soaring into the sky.

"Use your shields to protect the sky-lancers!" I instruct.

Margot takes the first decisive strike. She fires a bullet which explodes in the god's body dealing 30x damage. Snipers from all over begin dishing out multiple kinds of attacks from rockets, to low beam lasers, to harpoons, which the god can't defend itself from 50 of said objects at once.

Sagittarius tries to dodge but ends up getting destroyed by most of the shots taken. We cheer as its health is lowered to 682 bars. Great hit.

"Dive bombers! Go!" Sess orders. We take the first strike. Sess dives down on his wyvern. I feel an awesome rush as I hold onto Sess with my shield in front of him as the god fires arrows.

"Lancer's pain!" Sess cries. He swoops down low and jabs Sagittarius in the shoulder dealing massive damage. I sling my shield on my back as it takes shots. Thanks to Rancor's enchanted armor, the dragon is able to absorb the damage.

The god reaches in its quiver and pulls out a single arrow, then fires vertically into the sky.

"Wizards! We need defenses NOW!" I yell.

"Caelum clypeus!" the Wizards begin chanting one by one. Blue magic circles emit transparent blue shields above the battlefield.

The arrow divides into thousands again. I can hear the loud whistling as they come down. When the arrows hit the shields, they explode on contact on impact but I notice that the shields begin to flicker. Sagittarius fires another arrow into the sky. This is not good.

"Everyone defenses! Berzerkers! Back on the ground now with shields up! Wizards and Whisperers! Out of the blast radius!"

I jump off of the dragon. "Lead boots! Diamond armor!" I yell as I fall 75 feet. Sess pulls back the reigns then spins 180 degrees. His wyvern flies away from the epicenter of the storm as the arrows break through the shields.

"Expand shield!" I yell. The Berzerkers are now spread out on all fronts protecting everyone.

"Brace!" someone screams.

The entire battlefield is set ablaze as hundreds of arrows explode on the ground.

The air around me warms to boiling and high winds blow me off my feet. I get knocked out a bit from the severe beating. I'm not sure if I'm dying or not. I twirl in the fire for a few seconds and finally, the hell on Earth stops.

Through long heavy breaths, I look up into the destroyed world in blurry eyes. I need a Paladin.

I see dying bodies about. One by one, particles float into the sky. It's not looking good.

"Paladins!" I wheeze with all my might as I stand.

I see Wizards and Whisperers flying in to engage.

I fall to my knees. I'm too weak.

I fall to my hands. I've gone through worse, I can survive this.

I fall to my stomach. As my breath forcefully shallows and my vision begins to gray and fade, I scoff at my own naïveté. I knew that I could die at any time. Every time I fight, I block the thought of dying out so I can focus on the task at hand, but here I am, about to pass. I can barely see or breathe. This is it. My luck has run out and death will claim me.

There's no power of love or some movie magic bullshit that can save me. The number of times that I've been in this situation and walked away is amazing. At least if I can't make it out, I know someone else will take my place and lead our guys out. I'm happy that I got to do this. It's a very mixed feeling I have about my situation. It took me a while to accept living here and having fun, than seeing this as being trapped as their prisoners.

This phenomenon, let's call it, has given me opportunities do more than ordinary people do in their entire lifetimes in the span of a few years. It's given all of us that opportunity.

I've made new friends, I've commanded armies, I've strengthened relationships with my friends, I've learned more about myself than I really wanted to for the better, I've killed not only demi-gods but gods, I've partaken in massive festivals and have so much, it's crazy.

I can no longer see, breathe, move, or hear. This is it.

I've done so many things I could have never done in the real world that this is like a blessing and a curse. It's a curse to be trapped here, but it's a blessing to live here, as we the players are so willing to join together, help one another out, and make this world into something beautiful, fun, and a home for us to enjoy and remember for when we get out.

Whatever life or consciousness I have left begins to break down into particles. I feel my soul drifting somewhere.

I'm sorry Allysse. I'm sorry to my kids. I'm sorry to everyone. I tried. I failed them. I failed myself.