Civilization

Dashing around the corner was Luna, throwing herself into the river before spinning around. I can see cuts on her leg and blood dripping from her fur. With a glance in our direction Luna runs out of the river and towards us and not long later were the enemies. 

They emerge around the corner and take defensive positions instantly as they see us. Some of them were holding onto torches lighting up their faces a bit. I can see the mix of humans and demi-humans, each holding onto a weapon with a slight grin on their face. They spoke loudly as if they wanted me to hear their conversation.

"Hey Gabe, that should be the player right? Somewhere in that crowd."

"Yes, Phil I do believe a player is there. Some mutt that attacked us not too long ago."

"If only we can live-stream this or record it. How much money we would make for being one of the first PVP fights?"

"Shut up Kingston! Gabe, how should we do this?"

"Well, we kill the player. Get their NPCs to follow us. Then take everything in their village and finally tell Bones about everything and we get paid a nice bonus."

"Right, right, kill, steal and get real money. How good of a job this is? We were so lucky we found another player."

"Yea, I know right!"

"Shut up Kingston! You are a waste of air only thing you can do is be good at fighting and think about what if I could make money."

"But I-"

"What part of Shut up do you not understand? Now go forward with the demi-humans and start attacking. Stupid halfbreed NPCs only listen to another monkey."

Bones? I didn't think I would hear such useful information here. I guess some of the companies are already trying to establish a lease on their hired guns. By offering money for such services they can control the player base and eventually establish a territory of only Bones Players. I won't let myself be the first victim of this corporate scam. Let's start by trying to talk to them.

"Hey, question! Since we are both players why did you come and attack me? We could have maybe set up a trading route or even become allies." 

"Oi, Gabe I think he is talking to you."

"Phil, I know. Ahem. Uhhh player P, it is quite unfortunate but it's all about the money."

"Wow, Gabe I didn't know you were such a miser. Only about the money what is that?"

"Shut up Phil or I'll take 10% of your share."

"Yes, Boss!"

Money? Is that all there is?

"So you would risk being killed for money?"

"Are you kidding me P? This is a game, people die. Just part of the process. Plus you don't even know where our village is so we have all the advantages here. If we die we only lose these shitty NPCs and we respawn back at our village."

"You have a point…"

"Right, so I would say I'm sorry for this but I'm really not. Kingston! Attack!"

"DEMI-HUMANS CHARGE! RAHHHHH!!!!"

At the front of the enemy's army is one of the players, Kingston. A muscular man with arms like cannons wielding a wooden club as his weapon. With the minimal light, I could make out that he was wearing some sort of light armor. It didn't look bulky like the wooden armor we were wearing but instead fit tightly against his body, kind of like leather armor in other games. 

The charge consisted of Kingston at the head followed by 10 demi-humans behind him all wielding either spears or clubs. The demi-humans had wolf or dog-like ears along with three distinctive scratch-like marks on their cheeks resembling those whiskers as well as small fangs replacing their canines. I was lucky enough to observe some of the demi-humans due to the torches they carried, illuminating their face as well as a small area around them.

"Shields! Dig the shield into the dirt and do not get pushed back. Howard and David stay closer to the sides of the shields and fend off anyone that is trying to go around them. Noah, Frank and Owen prepare to fight back with your spears over the top of the shields. Luna stay with me and be ready to pounce on anyone."

I made sure to give out clear orders as the enemy army charged towards us. I even gave Luna orders not knowing if she can understand me but maybe since Celine can communicate with the wolves they would be able to understand me to a similar degree.

"HAHAHA! Do you think your shield can stand against me?!"

With a large swing of his club, Kingston hammered against the shield Gobi was holding creating a loud DONG sound to echo throughout the canyon. Gobi pushes his shoulder against the shield digging the bottom of the Scutum into the ground as he braces the attack. His whole body shakes and as he feels his legs about to slide back from the sheer force of the attack, Noah grabs Gobi's body and pushes forward stabilizing the situation. 

"WHAT!?"

"COUNTER-ATTACK!"

As soon as the first contact rides in our favor Owen and Frank stab their stone spears at the confused Kingston, slicing against his shoulder but only creating surface wounds. Multiple drum-like sounds echo in the canyon as the demi-humans start bashing the Scutums hoping to bring it down. David would occasionally swing around the side attacking any ambitious enemies that want to go around the shield and some really ambitious demi-humans would climb on the cliff wall only to be attacked by Howard.

"Shit, demi-human archers and human archers start to volley!"

"Well, if you are going to attack with arrows then we will too. ROBIN! FIRE! AIM AT THE ENEMY ARCHERS!"

The moment I said those words I could see above me a rain of fire pummeling down on the condensed archer troops. While a volley of arrows was released from them first, most of the arrows overshot or undershot hitting their allies more than us. However, our fire arrows were on point. With the aid of higher ground, there was less aiming to do and the fire is already helping. Burning hair or clothes and sending the archer troop into a panic.

"RUN INTO THE RIVER YOU IDIOTS IT WILL PUT OUT THE FIRE!"

"Good, it's time. Luna howl for me, signal the wolf cubs to attack."

The battle is already in my favor but something tells me it shouldn't be this simple.