"Ranged units, fire at will!"

Song Chen gripped the hilt of his sword, the strongest bladed weapon ever produced by the Burning Steel Forge. Designed for battling ma.s.sive Wilds the likes of Spike and DD, it was a ma.s.sive ruler, five feet in length, five inches broad and weighing almost 15 kg. Made out of Tier 5 bone (DD lost a tooth when he fell in the Pit way back then) it was not usually a weapon one carried around to a battle, completely unsuited for complex swinging, much less for prolonged combat…

Heck, it wasn't even sharpened. But when you had to deal with oversized, heavily armored targets, blunt force trauma and sheer ma.s.s worked better than sharp edges. Besides, this battle was turning out to be a challenge of pus.h.i.+ng heavy Wilds into the Pit, not actually trying to kill them with weaponry.

At least, not for the FDF. The Sky Fortresses had the advantage of height and heavier weapons, but down here, all the FDF had to rely on were rams, pikes and their own heavy armor.

The FDF heavy armor was a combination of Ashdale and Iron Legion style, using thick linen layers for a padded long sleeve, long pants suit of gamberson inside, and then metal splint mail, bracers and leg guards on top of that. It was not to Song Chen's taste, since he preferred agility, but going up against Wilds like those golden lions, they were the FDF's best bet at keeping more people alive.

"Goth Units, on me. Do NOT charge out before I do!" Song Chen ordered sternly. "I will draw their attention. Both Ram units, strike whatever's directly in front of the gate on my signal! Pike unit, keep your weapons between them and the incoming Wilds! Remember, wait for my signal!"

"Smoke screens!" Remian ordered, and smoke bombs were hurled all over the Pit area.

Thundering footsteps neared. Song Chen tuned out the sounds, the panic, the near palpable tension in the air. He spread out his spiritual sense, detected ma.s.sive concentrations of life force coming at him, focused on the nearest as it closed in…

"Wait for my signal!" Song Chen ordered one last time before charging out at the first Golden Lion that approached the front gate with a warcry. "You're doing DOOOOOOWN!"

The golden lion turned toward him, jaws wide open and teeth ready to welcome him into its maw…

Song Chen dove low, holding the oversized ruler before him, left hand supporting the flat of its 'blade'. The weight of man and metal crashed into the armored lion in a perfect angle, smas.h.i.+ng into its side just as its left forepaw was off the ground…

"OOF!" Song Chen splattered against the armored lion. There was an awkward pause as he stuck there, jellified up against a surface harder and tougher than him and his weapon combined, velocity-be-hanged. Even the lion itself seemed surprised by the (dismal lack of!) effect of his charge.

Slowly, he slid face-down into the dirt, and lay there completely flat.

"Is that the signal?" one curious FDF member manning the first Goth Ram ventured to ask.

"GO!" someone else yelped, and the Goth First Ram unit charged out.

The elephant-sized golden lion turned to face them as they went straight for its face. Fiercely, it chomped down on the front of the ram, biting the ram's 'head' off…

The rest of the ram followed through right into its mouth. There was a bare moment of resistance as teeth met metal, and then five hundred kilograms of reinforced steel was rammed down the throat of the poor Wild with the force of twelve FDF troopers running at full tilt in heavy armor.

"RO-GWUUBUOOOO!!" the golden lion stumbled back, flailing, one step, two steps… "WU?!"

"Brace!" the First Ram Unit managed to save the ram while the lion went down over the edge into the Pit.

"Get back!" the Pike Unit swarmed out, trying to fend off the next incoming giant metal lion trying to have them for lunch.

"Get clear!" someone behind yelled. "Second ram coming through!"

"Wait! Song Chen is…"

Song Chen lifted his head in time to see the second ram and the second lion meet loudly.

BAM! The second lion went reeling sideways, almost trampling Song Chen in the process. One tawny forepaw hammered into the dirt six inches from his face, claws almost tearing through his left shoulder as he rolled aside. The lion's rear right leg stumbled, trying to gain balance, and landed right on Song Chen's own right leg…

"AARGH!" Song Chen let out a scream as the lion stumbled over his leg and was hurtled down into the pit by a jubilant Second Ram crew.

In this way, Song Chen proved ineffective against the first lion, but instrumental in the downfall of the second lion…

Unfortunately, he was neither proud nor happy of his recent feat. In fact, he was rolling around in the dirt clutching his leg and screaming.

Oh, dear. He really didn't look at all happy.

"Emergency! Phoebe! HELP!" they dragged him back in to safety.

Phoebe appeared, Song Chen saw her, and for a moment there, Song Chen stopped screaming, seeming even to forget that he was hurt…

But just for a moment. Phoebe grabbed his leg and life magic flared and…

"OW!!! AARGH!!!"

Aye, there was great joy and great pain when one got involved with beauties. (sigh)

***

Meanwhile, the pair of metallic lions down in the Pit were also in great pain. At first they roared threats and promised harsh vengeance and much agony upon the ancestors and descendants and general family members of every human being involved in their downfall…

But then, another angry roar was heard, and this one came from the non-collapsed tunnel leading out from the Pit. [QUIT DISTURBING MY NAP!]

It was accompanied by a belch of dragon-fire.

Suddenly, the two lions became very, very quiet.

The two were joined by two more in short order from the other side of the Pit. Those new two were likewise very lively at first, bellowing and threatening, but then they were curious at why the earlier two were so frantically trying to shush them…

A bigger belch of dragon-fire came splurting out of the tunnel, with another angry roar, and then once more, there was abrupt silence in the depths of the Pit.

***

High above the Pit, three Sky Fortresses rained down heavy fire upon the incoming Wilds. They hovered, then lowered, and in doing so baited dozens of bloodthirsty Wilds into trying to reach them.

But of course, they were directly over the Pit, so…

"ROAWoaaaaa…?" down they went, first five, then six, then sixteen all in a bundle. Golden lions, silver lions, bronze lions, iron lions, coal lions, giant snakes, oversized insects, one bustling war mammoth… all of them went down.

The mammoth, especially landed with much fanfare. One could say its arrival had quite the impact. "RIAOOOOO!"

[ENOUGH!] Ha'res-dras roared, and came thundering out of the tunnels. Fire sprayed around the Pit, much to everyone's grief, and then the dragon took to the skies, and fire streamed out everywhere.

[Now, you've done it!] the first golden lion into the Pit groaned.

"Get away!" Remian yelled indiscriminately, and indiscriminately, everyone scrambled to do just that.

Ha'res-dras raged as he poured fire all over the scene. Wilds and humans alike screamed in fright and ran for cover. The entire Beast Wave was practically derailed on the spot, all fighting utterly forgotten, if not forgiven outright.

"Faster! Faster!!" Mindy yelped, piloting the Red Fang to lead the Sky Fortresses away.

Ha'res-dras went on full-tilt bad tantrum, burning the land below and the skies above. All the Wilds in the Beast Wave up on the surface were broiled, baked, fried, or outright reduced to ashes within minutes. Oddly enough, the Wilds who were down in the Pit actually escaped the worst of it, suffering burns, but generally keeping their lives.

[Darian! I'm leaving! You're coming with me!] Ha'res-dras fumed.

"But…!"

[Either you come with me now, or I break that little hill you're hiding in and drag you out!]

"Coming, coming!" Darian scrambled hastily. "Bye, mom, bye, dad! I'll come visit on the weekend!"

"Wait!" Remian grabbed Vigil and threw the yelping, furry bundle almost into Darian's face. "Carrie asked if you could take him with you!"

"For what?!"

"Training!" Remian summarized.

[I'm leaving!] Ha'res-dras roared.

"Okay, okay!" Darian answered everyone with the same words, and went off to begin his training.