The group of support hunters boarded the front of the vessel as the wagon in front of them slipped across the murk. There were six of them and they all moved with the grace and efficiency of an elite unit. Leaping to defensive positions right as the front of the train began pushing over the murk.

  With both of his weapons prepped and loaded Ozzy leaned over the emplacement watching with growing apprehension as in an instant the water around the front of the train became a boiling sea of teeth, claw, and scales. Fortunately for the defenders the entire front half of the first segment was slopped and made of solid steel, the only creatures that could maintain any sort of hold on it found themselves at a complete loss as to where the defenders were. The answer was above them.

  From the top platform Dugan and Lorelai rained lightning and jagged shards of earth down on the monsters. Magic flowed down the front of the train like an avalanche, sweeping anything that came into contact with it away.

  As they continued forward the monsters gained more and more access to the first segment, and Ozzy realized that there was no hard limit to the Murk’s barrier, it was more of a repulsive force. Over and over again he’d watch the more aggressive monsters move farther into the train, leaving their fellows as they went to be hacked down on their lonesome.

  It remained a range focused fight until the first pieces of the segments armored walkways became accessible to the monsters. They began to swarm up the sides, moving into kill boxes where core users could blast multiple at the same time with a singular spell. As more and more of the walkways were exposed however it simply became a bloody melee. Gone were the strategies they had employed as they turned to simple, brutal combat.

  Core users swept about themselves with short blades and blunt weapons, those who didn’t have shields would use their off hands to cast spells. Ozzy watched as Gustav who was assisting at the front of the train split a fish man thing in two down the middle with a falchion like blade, only to cast a blast of force at it and send the chunks of lifeless flesh hurtling into the monsters behind it.

  On the top deck Dugan and Lorelia were no longer concerned with keeping the front sloping face of the segment clear but with keeping themselves safe. The caiman like dog monsters could leap dizzying distances out of the water and huge multi armed crab things were making their way up the front and sides of the ship to harry defenders on every level including the top.

  Just as the defenders began to gain control of the situation and push the monsters closer to the water a massive serpent rose out of the water, hosing down a pair of defenders with a torrent of liquid Ozzy knew must either be poisonous or acid.

  Spells flew out to meet the creature, striking it to little effect. Fire, lighting, and ice dancing across its scales as it reared back to strike at the two core users it had doused.

  BOOM

  Power Ozzy had never before experienced firing a rifle drove the round out of his rifle and into the neck of the great serpent just as a great orb of fire flew at it from the second segment.

  Gasping Ozzy rubbed his shoulders, he was honestly surprised it hadn’t left a dent in his flesh or even broken his collarbone. It felt like he’d just shoulder fired a cannon.

  The serpents hiss sounded like a lake being flash boiled, and it swung its head directly through the orb of flame, casting its remnants onto the first segment and the defenders therein. It struck every opportunity it got now, lashing out at the defenders who were only surviving because the snake was too large to fit its mouth into the walkways. It was bleeding from a single point in its neck, and though the wound was hardly an issue for the serpent he could quickly make the shots add up.

  Loading another round into the rifle he watched as the snake latched onto the section of walkway where Gustav had been holed up. It worked its mouth on the bars and armored half walls, and Ozzy could hear the groaning whine of stressed metal from the very back of the train. The snake not stopping its assault on the metal walkway save to spray caustic bile over the defenders.

  Pressing the gun into the side of the emplacement Ozzy took a deep breath, willing the platform to stillness as he sighted in on the serpent’s head. Unlike when he had shot the leviathan the vessel, he was on was nearly completely stable. That “nearly” was a big difference when it came to a shot like this and not only was he aiming at a moving target but one much smaller than the Leviathans eye had been. The shot had to be perfect, every moment that passed as he ensured complete precision was a moment Gustav might be getting cooked.

  BOOM

  The round struck home, not in the serpent’s eye like he would have wanted but nearly a foot to the right. At a distance close to four hundred meters that was something he could live with.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Immediately he went to reloading the weapon as the snake thrashed around, banging its head and coils against the side of the first segment like a tantrum throwing child. It was impossible to put a bead on it, but he wasn’t sure he really needed to spend the extra bullet on it. The serpent had all but stopped its attack, its flailings dragging it slowly but surely away from the train and freeing up space for the smaller yet equally nasty creatures to move in on mass and attack the defenders.

  Setting his rifle aside Ozzy pulled out his revolver and began spraying into the roiling water just in front of the train’s sides. Normally he would have considered the practice wasteful, but there was so much movement it’d be impossible to miss every shot. Not to mention at his current mana regen speed, spamming the revolver hardly even made a difference to his overall pool.

  ***

  The blood bath continued with few changes as they hit the second segment save for the quantity of monsters attacking the train nearly doubling as they now had access to two different points of attack. It turned out however that Lucy was a nasty midrange opponent. The initial fire orb she’d thrown at the serpent had been the stuff of legend, but the waves of flame she was throwing now were an arsonists dream. Ozzy couldn’t imagine the gargantuan mana cost that must be associated with the attack, as she would cover nearly the entire side of her segment in a wave of swirling blue flames that boiled the water and charred any monsters unlucky enough to get caught in the blast. She had even crisped and sent a Root Sucker fleeing with a targeted fire strike.

  Things were going well and they nearly found themselves at the third segment when the very same horn Ozzy had heard the elite hunters use earlier sounded over to their right side, his side.

  He hadn’t been paying attention to the hunters and had been completely engrossed in helping the defenders on the second platform so when he looked out to see that same tentacled monster from several hours ago tearing into the hunters he knew stuff was about to go down.

  Not hesitating he cast his hand down to his side and summoned Frank, he hadn’t summoned him initially because he’d been worried that in the thick of things someone might mistake his furry little buddy for a monster and fire on him. As it was however he would be needing the support on his deck.

  “Katie!” Ozzy turned as he shouted the woman’s name, she was already looking towards him, no past him, out at the raging battle between the monster that was practically toying with the elite hunters. Her eyes were wide, a mask of panic having donned itself across her features.

  “KATIE!” Ozzy boomed, firing his revolver up into the air to get her attention, she jumped, looking at him in shock and down at Frank. “The rats with me, don’t shoot him.

  Nodding quickly the woman went back to staring at the fight, her arms clasped nervously in front of her.

  “It’s gonna be alright!” Ozzy shouted at her, the last thing he needed in this worst-case scenario was the person watching his back to freak out and lose control of themselves. “Frank is gonna watch your back, I’ll be fine!” He lied.

  Ozzy very much did not think he was going to be fine, and he regretted telling her Frank would have her back nearly the instant he shouted it at her. Even Frank looked up at him like he’d just made the stupidest decision of his short life. In reality he probably had, this could after all be his last big screw up.

  ***

  Summoning another rifle round he waited, his fingers twitching and fidgeting as he watched their controlled chaos slip out of the defender’s control and swing in favor of the monsters. They were no longer fighting to get through the Murk but to survive. The first segment was nearly out of the main combat zone as the train pushed the third segment just over the murk and they worked overtime to create cover for the people of the second segment who had been all but overrun.

  There were no longer defenders on the walkways and lower levels as they had all retreated to the top, a myriad of monsters pressing in on them from all sides growing every larger as they raced up the sides of the armored train segment to gruesome and fiery deaths.

  The plan for Dugan and Lorelai to move and take up positions in the enhancement emplacements on the third segment had gone out the door the moment the horn had sounded, they were barely keeping monsters off of the second segments defenders and there was no way anyone would be able to get through that meat grinder.

  While he wanted desperately to help the defenders on the second segment, he knew that any resources he spent on them would be ones he didn’t get to use on himself. It was a terrible way to think but deep down he knew it was him, Katie, and the faceless defenders below deck against the world right now. Already the fighters from the third segment were falling back to Ozzy’s segment, they had no choice. It was get swarmed on that part of the train from above and below or join Ozzy and hopefully only have to face the monsters from below.

  Drinking his only mana regen potion he was able to summon an extra two rifle rounds, bringing his total to 13. Watching a root sucker use its long-barbed tentacles to climb up the side of the second segment he knew it probably wouldn’t be enough. Massive creatures trying to make their ways up the sides were no longer the exception but the norm. There were two other root suckers he could see trying to shove their way through the press.

  He even spotted new monsters he hadn’t seen before, a murk rat that looked like it had been genetically modified to eat the scraps of giants leapt from the sloped front of the first segment to smash into Dugan and Lorelai. A turtle the size of a cottage bit into the side of the train, leaving massive gouges and holes that began to take on water.

  Worst of all he saw a creature he recognized. One popular in both myth and legend back on earth. Its arrival was heralded by a roar that would have put an earthly hurricane to shame. Four long scaled necks ending in snapping reptilian heads glared down at the train, each neck rising up out of the water from a single point, a massive quadrupedal body covered in spikes, and scale armor so thick it might as well have been a tank. A hydra had found them.

  He Who Walks In Shadows for our second character idea. A rogue type character who has abilities centered around controlling the battlefield and abilities which reward that same control, turning fights against them into a spiraling slog that sees the very world turn against you.