John took the lead as they charged out of the train carriage. Accelerate allowed him to be out on the platform and launching Fireballs along the train before the doors had even fully opened. The timing wasn't perfect. His spell ended up splashing against the still-opening doors two carriages down, but that actually somewhat worked out. The doors, carriage, and platform all caught alight, leaving a small gauntlet of flame for the nearest monsters to navigate.

Many of them foolishly met the challenge, stampeding right through the flames, and they went up like kindling. The Burning Gale that followed only exacerbated the situation, and John was inspired. Throwing a Wind Shear to buy himself an extra second or two, he hurled another fireball, aiming for the spot the monsters would soon be running through, covering much of one side of the platform. If he could create a flame-flanked path to the exit, it'd be smooth sailing.

He didn't for a second believe it would actually work out that way, but it was worth trying. Accelerate ran out, and the others followed a second behind him. The tat-tat-tat of Lily's repeater crossbow sounded, launching three bolts at a time into the horde. There was a flash of pink, and the leading monsters that had managed to escape immolation flinched back like they'd been hit by a wave.

"Holy fuck," Lily breathed as she got a good look at the monsters spilling out of the train doors further down, voice laced with trepidation.

It was tough to blame her for that. It would've been hypocritical, for one thing. Seeing hundreds of monsters stampeding like this had struck him similarly just a few minutes ago. They put him in mind of a disturbed ant's nest, the mass of monsters packed so close together they seemed akin to one giant, malevolent entity. The vast majority of them were pitch black, blending in well with the darkness, their forms insectoid, spindly, spiny. Some familiar faces were mixed in there, like a few dozen rat monsters and some eyeballs with their insect-part lashes and red legs. They charged with reckless abandon, eating up the gap between them.

"We sure this is a good plan?" Chester practically squeaked.

It's a terrible plan, John thought.

"No other choice," Jade replied.

John nodded in agreement. There really wasn't. If the Hornet Line station—coloured in yellow—was anywhere near as packed as this with yellow-souled monsters, they wouldn't stand a hope in hell of getting out of there. If it wasn't now, it had to be the next station, at least. They had two shots at survival.

So they started to run towards the horde.

The problems with this station was its similarity to the first. Its only exit was a tunnel at the precise opposite end from the carriage they'd been riding in. Judging the distance was difficult in the dim light of the train's internal fluorescents, but the train had about twenty carriages at a quick guesstimate. The carriage they'd been on was, at a guess, about fifteen metres long. So, 300 metres, give or take. Not an easy sprint by any stretch of the imagination, when a mass of murderous monsters sought to bar your path.

It had seemed like a good idea to take the last carriage at the time. If they'd got on the very first carriage, the monsters would've had plenty of time to reach them, and they would've been fighting all the way to the next station, with all the problems that came with combat in close quarters on a moving train.

Still, even with the necessity of it, this action immediately felt like a stupid idea. Through Mana Sense, he already knew there were more in the station, beyond the ones pouring out of the train. Not as many, but they were there.

Sure enough, he spied some further down that were running on the other side of the platform, clearly having started here by the angle they were approaching from.

Were they waiting for the train? John thought.

They were committed now, and they charged to meet the monsters. John fell into a rhythm of Spell fire, cycling through his routine of Fireball, Wind Shear, and Burning Gale, using Accelerate to augment his speed. Shadow Stream wasn't usable in this case, since it'd impede his comrades as much as the monsters.

Frustrating as it was to be around them, he still didn't want any of the three to die. He was pretty sure he'd lose a lot of Aura that way.

Monsters died in droves. John's rotation of Spells chewed through their ranks, and the others did their part too. Jade's golden projection cut through them like a scythe through wheat. Lily found it impossible to miss her crossbow shots with so many targets on offer. Even Chester's pink flash ability did massive work, stunning the closer monsters into a near-complete stop every few seconds and leaving them as temporary stationary targets.

But it was only inevitable that the battle would turn close ranged, and that was where things were destined to go wrong. John had done his best to create a fire-flanked pathway through the centre of the platform that would give them some respite, but not all of the monsters were so ridiculously flammable as others. Many were immune, even.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

And so it felt like they'd barely thinned the herd at all by the time they were forced into melee combat. John switched to his Mana Blade, keeping another slot open to keep up his rotation of Spells with the other hand outstretched. Duellist kicked in, and he slashed the skull of a praying mantis monster in half, then bisected three more on the back stroke.

+400 Aura

Then they were amidst the horde, and it all descended into madness. John lost all track of time. Of his surroundings. Of his comrades. Of his place in the universe. His entire world became a blur of carnage. Everywhere he looked, a monster approached. His Mana Blade lashed out endlessly, seeming almost to move on its own, while Spells launched one after the other from his hand, desperately trying to keep his enemies at bay.

+800 Aura

It was a futile effort. It seemed like every second a new pain made itself known. Scrapes, bruises, dull impacts, scratches, burns. His arms and legs were being cut to ribbons. A particularly heavy blow to the back of his head sent the world spinning, and he almost fell. Only a miracle left him with enough presence of mind to delve into his Aura system as the world blurred.

Increased Vitality Level 3 -> Level 4

-800 Aura

Energy surged, granting his body new life, but he had no time to appreciate it. The horde still surrounded him. New pains swiftly arrived to replace the old ones.

The ensuing moments were filled with death and confusion, and it took no genius to see this wasn't going to work. A gap in the wall of beasts let him see they'd barely made it halfway down the platform. Looking back, there was a heart-lurching moment where he couldn't see the other three—but no, he'd just charged ahead of them, lost in the speed of Accelerate. He was forced to double back before they got overwhelmed, but that just brought him closer to being overrun himself.

A jingle chimed faintly. Distorted voiced hissed out from the tannoy system, and John was pretty sure he understood at least one word of it this time:

"Terminal."

It seemed appropriate for the situation.

Fuck that, a voice in his mind roared.

"Fuck that!" He roared aloud to match it. "You won't take me! Not like this!"

+400 Aura

The train was going to leave at any moment, and they'd be left on the platform with the horde of monsters. John went for his Aura interface as he started throwing wild swings of his Mana Blade towards the train, desperately trying to clear a path. The distance was only a couple of metres, and there wasn't a huge number of monsters in the way, but the gaps were constantly being filled, and they were only advancing an inch at a time. Flames were starting to spread as burning monsters mounted suicide charges.

Lily was screaming. Jade was roaring. Chester was squealing. John was bellowing with rage and defiance.

Upgraded Fireball Level 1 -> Level 2

-1000 Aura

Upgraded Mana Blade Level 1 -> Level 2

-1000 Aura

Upgraded Wind Shear Level 1 -> Level 2

-1000 Aura

Upgraded Burning Gale Level 1 -> Level 2

-1000 Aura

John couldn't honestly say if any of that made a difference. The rhythm of the battle didn't change. It was still a berserk dash, an endless stream of Fireball, Wind Shear, Mana Blade, Force Push, and Burning Gale, directed anywhere a monster appeared to be coming from.

At one point, he faintly registered that the ground beneath his feet had changed. There was a hissing sound, then a click. The floor started moving, almost throwing him off balance. But there were still monsters to kill, and he set to the task. Slash, cut, stab. Flames, wind, force. John roared as pain flared in his shoulder, bellowed as something stabbed through his thigh, howled as a cuts slashed down his back. But he kept fighting.

It seemed to go on forever. The tides of monsters would never end. He'd be fighting until the heat death of the universe, and perhaps even beyond.

Then his Mana Blade stabbed right through an eyeball monster and popped its head like a balloon, disgorging clear fluid all over the gory floor. He spun, weapon ready, but found no more monsters to kill. There were only three other humans standing before him, bruised, bloody, and filthy, barely standing, but alive.

All were covered in gore. It caked their hair to their heads, dyed their clothing, armour, and skin red. More than a bit of that blood was their own, John was sure. He could see cuts cross-crossing every bit of exposed skin.

There was a solid few inches of blood and body parts pooled on the floor. The fluid seemed to be slowly draining towards the doors, gradually exposing the chunks of monster meat they'd slashed up into little pieces. Barely any of them were recognisable, which wasn't helped by how quickly these foul things seemed to rot away. The stench in this room was indescribable.

John felt sick. The place was like something out of a horror movie, now. Even the windows were caked with gore.

He also felt a kind of triumph he'd never before experienced. It was rare he got a win like this.

Unfortunately, he knew it still wasn't over. Mana Sense revealed that far fewer monsters had made it onto the train; they'd still mostly been rushing to get a bite of human flesh until the last moment, and many hadn't boarded in time. But there was still an appreciable number. A few dozen, at least. And there'd be more at the next stop.

John didn't let his shoulders slump. Instead, he squared them, lifted his chin high, and flicked the blood off his Mana Blade. "Next station's our way out," he said.

+400 Aura

"How the fuck are we going to do that?" Chester's voice sounded hollow, lifeless. The man looked like he was ready to collapse and sleep in the puddled of decaying monster parts.

But he'd made it through. That counted for something.

"Count on me," John said, and found that he meant it. "I'll get you all out of this."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.