Turns out we were mostly worried about nothing.

  There were people here. Less than before, and probably less than what was available since some of them did actually run away, but there were, in fact, people here.

  Enough that my family and I didn’t feel the need to turn tail and run away. At least not yet.

  It didn’t take very long for the battle to reach the point where it became a brutal melee like it did this morning.

  Only the family decided to do things a bit differently this time, emphasizing that we should fight together.

  Yeah, honestly it was pretty stupid of us not to do that this morning, but that’s the past and this is now.

  So, all the melee people were in little groups as we met the advance of the red people once more.

  And this time would be different.

  Finally reunited with a spear, I mowed down the red bastards with a vigor I don’t think anyone expected me to have.

  The ability to fight against them wasn’t new though. Just this morning I was doing very similar things. The only difference was that fighting with other people nearby made it easier since I wasn’t getting surrounded.

  Just like this morning, there was chaos and death all around us. Only it felt far more eerie now as there was no sun to watch over us. It was getting darker and darker as the battle raged on.

  We were killing them, they were killing us.

  Magic was flying out, and I truly wish there was time to admire it all, but no, I had to focus on my part in the carnage.

  Pulling my spear out of the chest of one red person, I did a swiping motion to push the sword of another away before slashing down across his face with the blade.

  Then I swung the butt of the spear to block another one and push him backwards, before the swing of someone else’s sword clipped him in the neck shortly after.

  The battle was something out of a medieval film.

  Despite all the magic and skills on display, there was nothing fantasy about it.

  It was just war.

  “BLACK!!!”

  My head snapped toward the direction of that voice. It was Uncle Robert’s, and he yelled because one of those bastards in black armor was bearing down on him.

  I was closest, so I brushed off the enemies near me, gripped my spear tightly, and ran over toward the enemy.

  There were no delusions in my head that I could now contend blow for blow with the black-armored red people, but between me and Uncle Robert, we should be able to put enough pressure on him to give me a chance to act.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Just one chance is all I needed.

  I watched as Uncle Robert tried to back off as much as possible to buy time, but the enemy wasn’t giving him the benefit.

  Surging Step!

  I dashed towards him and immediately had to bring my spear up to block a strike from their sword. Only I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. I jumped backwards and activated Ripple Guard at the same time.

  He barely stumbled at all, which was troubling in and of itself, but my spear was left intact so that’s a positive. Uncle Robert then came roaring back with his sword, and the red man before me quickly turned toward him whilst keeping his swords pressed against my spear.

  I pushed his sword away with a grunt, and at the same time, he used his other hand to catch the attack of my uncle.

  Man, this fucking supervillain of a bastard!

  Then, out of nowhere, two arrows made of fire flew like some damn missiles and slammed into the chest of the red man.

  Boom!

  “Aye, we got you!”

  That wasn’t a voice I recognized, but I didn’t have time to figure out who it came from. The attack served me well, and I wouldn’t let it go to waste.

  Smoke engulfed the man for a moment, but he stepped out of it seemingly unharmed. I didn’t expect anything else.

  My spear was already on a fast track towards his head, and he moved to block once more, but I wouldn’t be denied this time.

  I shifted my spear to the left ever so slightly to bypass the incoming sword.

  “Piercing Tide!”

  Just like the description said, a thin veil of water immediately formed around the blade of the spear as I drove it forward towards the head of the enemy in front of me.

  The spear collided with its head, and for the briefest of moments I was met with slight resistance before a literal one-foot-long blade of water shot out of the end of the spear and out through the back of its head.

  I pulled my spear back, and he fell lifelessly.

  Alright… it didn’t even take me a day to get a bit of revenge. I got some help, but I’ll take it.

  That was all the time I had to enjoy the moment though, as this battle was far from over. Both Uncle Robert and I only had time to give each other nods before diving back into the maw of the battle in full.

  There were still tens and tens of red people just near us alone, not to mention everywhere else.

  We fought and fought and fought for hours.

  By now, it was dark as shit outside, and with no streetlights of any kind to brighten the night sky, everyone had to fight with limited vision.

  Every now and then flashes of magic would cause an area to light up, but that was it, and that wasn’t nearly enough for those who needed light. For me, I wanted to say it was harder to fight in the dark, but I think mana and stat points were showing their effectiveness.

  It wasn’t to the point that I could see like it was daytime, but I definitely didn’t have any problems maintaining my effectiveness.

  And like that, we fought and fought and fought some more.

  I was a helpless burden for a good portion of the battle this morning, but not this time. I was there from the start to the end, and by the time the red people signaled the call for retreat, I only lasted a few more moments of standing before I just fell on my ass in a heap of tiredness.

  Taking one long look around me, there were once again plenty of red bodies on the ground, but there were enough humans laying there that the red bodies wouldn’t feel lonely.

  Sigh…

  I closed my eyes for a moment, then stood up. I needed to go make sure my family members survived the battle.

  Eventually, we all made it back to the compound. We were tired and wounded all over, but we were all alive.

  It was something to be happy about, but I don’t know how much longer that fact will remain true, and it worries me. One of those bodies I saw laying on the floor could easily be my mom or dad after the next attack.

  A next attack that was surely guaranteed to come.

  I don’t know where their support was coming from, but it would come, and they would attack.

  How many more battles would we be able to survive before a stray arrow clips someone I care about in the neck?

  I need to go back to the Dungeon. I’ll rest for an hour or so, then go back. Staying here is doing nothing for me.