Phoebe happened to come in just then.

"Seventy-one!" Wulfgar exclaimed, laboriously doing another sit-up. "Seventy-two…"

Alarms went off.

"Okay, okay, so I exaggerated!" Wulfgar protested, covering his ears. "There's no need to make that much noise about it!"

But others weren't so easily confused. Phoebe raised her head and raised her voice. "It's the Beast Tide! Everyone get to safety!"

They scrambled. The newest arrivals went to the airport. The older arrivals made for KarGoth.

But one particular confused fellow and his young friend went to the place that they, personally felt safest.

Wulfgar and Darrian actually went to the Farm.

***

The airs.h.i.+ps began to move.

The Red Fang and the Sky Fortress moved south. The Red Fang headed for Craggy Falls; the Sky Fortress pulled the last settlers out of the North and South Lakeside camps.

The two Sky Barges at KarGoth continued working on the dig site. Although the Tide was coming, they were still quite a ways off; the diggers at the site wanted every minute they could grab to enlarge and deepen the already formidable Pit. Those airs.h.i.+ps were there to help them, and when the time came, to get them all out in a hurry.

"We're counting on this Pit!" Aren sweated as he himself shoveled dirt. "There's no sighting of a Tier 6 yet, but if and when it appears, this is the only thing we have that can stop it!"

"For the Pit!" someone yelled encouragingly.

"For the Pit!" fifteen people echoed, voices reflecting urgency.

Remian's parents were with their students on the two Sky Barges above them, one on each. Contrary to their expectations, they found themselves examining their students how to handle a Ballista rather than math or science. Also contrary to their expectations, Darrian was not with either one of them. Had they asked each other where Darrian was, their answers would have been the same; "I thought he was with you!"

Lydia, Phoebe and Sabriane were in Goth, between the Pit and the Encles settlement. They were preparing a huge cavern for medical treatment.

Eriane was not with them. She was not with her parents either. Don't tell anyone, but she was actually with Mindy, on the Red Fang, right at the forefront of the defense forces.

Having said that, as long as the Beast Tide didn't include flying Wilds, she should actually be quite safe…

"Here they come!"

It started with a scattering of striped greenish figures darting across the savannah. These were serpent-tailed cheetahs, streamlined and balanced for speed, evolved with boundless stamina to chase down even the antelope-types of the Wildlands. Their tails had twin 'fangs' at the ends with a limited paralyzing venom. A single shot of that venom was lethal to the likes of Blood Rabbits. While one shot could for a time merely slow down full grown wolfcats, a dozen such shots would be bad even for Carrie. Very bad indeed.

Like wolfcats, these predator-type Wilds were generally Tier 3 and 4 upon adulthood. They were fast, smart, and deadly to unarmored humans on the ground. Just thirty of these alone, had they come in a Beast Wave, would have easily wiped out the entire Fort Spoas before Remian's arrival.

Like wolfcats, the strongest and rarest of these serpent-tailed cheetahs were capable of reaching a higher Tier. It did not lead from the front, instead preferring to lope along easily aside the largest cl.u.s.ter of its kin, but n.o.body could possibly mistake it for anything else. Among the serpent-tailed cheetahs was a Tier 5 quite capable of matching Spike, or DD, or Jujar on equal terms. Actually, no, considering its predatory capabilities, it would probably trounce them.

In short, just this one Wild alone was beyond the capabilities of any of their land Wilds to handle. The Tier 5 serpent-tailed cheetah would likely take all three of their Tier 5's to take down, all by itself.

But of course, this was just the start of the Beast Tide. There were many slower Wilds to follow, some of them larger, some of them deadlier, all of them just as intent on taking down the Destroyers of Nature.

Wilds like the twin-headed vipers, led by a Tier 5 purple variant. Wilds like the Dire Bears, all of them in Tier 4 except for a handful of Tier 5 Raging Dire Bears. Wilds like the metallic lions, copper, silver and gold, each one with claws capable of tearing through iron plating. Wilds like the Tier 4 Heretic Mantis' swarm, moving in their hundreds.

"Whatever happened to Blood Rabbits and Springboks?" Remian never thought he'd miss the 'gentler' types of Wilds in the former Beast Waves.

"Fire at will! Throw everything we have at them but the kitchen sink!" Mindy yelled. "Hit them hard, and hit them fast!"

The gunners started firing.

***

Doom had come to the lost Shadowflash's Fief.

Atop a hill not far from Craggy Falls, a figure stood alone amidst a teeming horde. Thousands of Wilds covered the horizon to every side, but none set foot upon the hill where he waited and watched.

He was dark skinned, a man dressed in furs, his hair long and tangled. He wore the bones of defeated foes, carried their claws as his own weapons.

Unknown to mankind, unrecognized by his own kin, he turned to the frenzied Wilds surrounding him and said, "Go! Cleanse the destroyers from this land!"

A thousand snarls and howls rose to the air.

"For every tree fallen to mankind's greed! For every living forest creature murdered for their own gain! For the blood that cries out for justice!" He spoke human words to the Wilds, yet the fury in their eyes and hearts ignited in response.

All of a sudden, there was a single, loud sequence of sound; three thousand heartbeats, beating at the same instant, in the same rhythm. A low, terrible growl filled the air from uncounted throats.

"To the death!" he roared, and they roared, and one man and a Beast Tide swept into Craggy Falls to wipe the Destroyers from the land.

***

"Hmm?" Death turned to the south distractedly.

"What is it?" Remian asked.

"For a moment there, I thought I heard someone call me." Death mentioned, musing.

Mindy's exclaim distracted them yet once more. "Whoa! What the-?!"

The flood of Wilds that suddenly poured through Craggy Falls completely covered the land. They came in from all sides like bad weather, all-engulfing, overwhelming. It didn't matter how much they shot or what weapons they had; Mindy and the Adventurers shooting from the Sky Fortress felt like they were throwing pebbles into the ocean, unable even to rouse a splash.

"Pull back! Retreat!" Remian didn't see any flying Wilds out there, so far, but he wasn't about to take any chances. "Tell the evacuation guys to HURRY UP!"

The first five minutes of the battle against the Beast Tide was a total failure. They barely took down a dozen Wilds, and were completely ineffective in slowing them the tide down. Worse, they were seeing stronger and stronger Wilds types, with no telling whether or not a flying type or something capable of attacking long-ranged would suddenly show up.

"We're outta here!" Remian declared and the Sky Fortress headed north following the Beast Tide, shooting downwards all the way.