The current strategy aimed at protecting their backs. It was alright before, when Urtica was standing with them, but without him they would be too spread out. The monsters would naturally swarm them from all sides, without even needing a general or a strategy to do so. With so much space between them, it would just be the instinctual thing to do.
And this would be a problem. In this situation, their only saving grace was that their backs were protected by the emptiness of the cave, they only had to worry about what was on front of them.
So, Baoba preferred to "sacrifice" Capcsium and put all her strength on maintaining a wall that would not kill too much enemies, but would at least stop them from crossing it, in order to leave him and Venus to fight like before. Only now, they were closer together, and could help each other, and they also had instant death weapons.
The only catch was they could only use one hand on it, and absolutely could not cut themselves. It already wasn't happening before, but knowing that a single cut means you die can really mess with your nerves.
And they also lost Pando's support. Right now, she had her hands full with the task of putting an arrow through every beast that dared to cross the veil of light, before they even crossed it.
All in all, this was roughly as difficult as before for the two of them. Maybe they could hope for Urtica's recovery, but Baoba didn't dare to put his hopes on it.
And so the slaughter continued, endlessly.
Each weapon could only kill so many beasts before wearing off. They had to recharge very often. And every time Urtica had to hand them an incarnation of death in the heat of the battle, he shuddered.
Every single time, without fail.
At some point, Baoba stopped seeing fur, heads, claws, eyes, fangs, blood, tails. He just saw a blend of monotone colors. After all, being precise in this moment was sort of useless. He just had to slash.
Slash, slash, wall, slash, dodge, slash, throw, catch, slash, slash. He lost track of time.
He also lost track of his limbs.
He was pretty sure they were still attached to him, because he vaguely saw arms coming from his body, doing what he asked them to. It was just hard to feel them when all he felt was pain, exhaustion, and anger. And heat. Lots of heat.
He had no way of knowing if it was morning yet. Of course, he could just look at the sky, but of course, he couldn't.
'There goes another piece of skin..'
He lightly cut the culprit before even starting this thought, killing it on the spot. He didn't need to look at his sword anymore to know it was almost depleted, so he threw it behind him and caught a new one without looking.
In this short moment of vulnerability, a nape lunged at him. Without thinking for even a little bit, Baoba summoned a javelin and threw it through its neck.
At this point, such actions were already muscle memory. All his mind was occupied by keeping himself moving at all costs.
A few times already, Capcsium had run out of projectiles. That would be the only relative rest he got as Urtica took his place in the frontline while he manifested a new pile.
This time, it really was too much. He had passed his limits a long time ago, and he knew doing this was not as glamorous as it sounded. He was on death's doorstep, leaning heavily towards the inside.
Spike, slash, hit, slash, slash, dodge, bleed, slash, throw, catch, wall, slash, hit, bleed, slash...
He was getting more and more injured. Less and less responsive. Weaker and weaker. Infinitely tired.
And those monsters just kept coming.
His vision blurred again. Not that he could see much before, since the flashes in his eyes had long settled into continuous white spots. The ringing in his ears seemed to talk to him, to invite him deeper into this blazing abyss...
The monsters had now become pitch black in his eyes. He was blue, welding purple, and the voice in his ears just did not stop calling, urging, enticing, promising...
The voice didn't feel like ringing anymore, nor did it feel real. Really, it felt like his own thoughts, except much more fundamental, like it came from a place within his being, but not entirely belonging to him. A place familiar yet unknown...
'Accept it... Come to me... I told you, it is much too hard...'
'Come... I will help you... Surrender yourself... I will save you...'
This was, without a shadow of a doubt, a hallucination. None of this could possibly be real.
But not all things that existed were in the real world.
As Baoba entertained the thought, a particularly vicious bite brought him back to reality.
Taking care of the opponent without even a first thought, he tried his best to stay rooted in reality, this time. This hallucination came in waves, each time stronger.
And like the usual these days, he was powerless to stop it.
Back in the blazing abyss, the somewhat androgynous voice beckoned him once more.
'Please... Stop it.. he will notice soon...'
Baoba sighed mentally.
At this rate he was going to die here. They all were. Against infinty, mere mortals were almost nonexistant. What could they do against an infinite tide ?
They all knew this since the start. All they did was choose death while fighting rather than lying down.
And now even fighting was not an option anymore. Not after so many hours. Not so far beyond possibility.
So what could he do ? Surrendering meant death, while fighting meant death as well.
Right now, the only difference between the two was a few seconds.
His torn, bloody lips curled into a smile.
'This means I'll answer at least one question before I go : is this true or am I losing it ?'
This was better than what he could have hoped for.
He tried to say a few last words to his team, only to discover he simply could not anymore.
He promptly added that to the list of regrets, and stopped moving.
His eyes closed, he surrendered completely to the light, "shifting" in a strange way deeper towards the voice. It was like he not only lost track of time, but also moved out of it, completely free of pain and weight.
'Yes... Over here... Quickly...'
The voice grew a bit clearer, and at the same time, the darkness which used to represent the monsters shifted with him, chasing after him.
After finding the "direction" Baoba got more precise, or maybe just faster, or maybe they were the same.
But as he found himself in a similar place to the voice, he felt his body holding him back.
He scoffed, or at least tried to, as this ethereal world did not seem to support such material expressions.
'I'm dead anyway, big deal.' He completely let go of his wordly body without hesitation, slipping away from the chasing darkness.
As he did, however, he started to dilute uncontrollably, struggling to keep his form.
'Hold on, I will help. Do not let it get to you...'
The voice was clear, and at the same time it never felt less real.
Suddenly, a current, coming from all sides and all dimensions and leading nowhere at all, pulled him away at great speeds, or lengths, and helped him condense himself.
In no time, he reached the voice.
And, touching it, it surprisingly felt like a real thing.
It felt like bark.
Instantly, the whole world moved around him. Completely drowning out the darkness, it followed Baoba's trail with incredible strength, mobilising every concept and pushing everything towards the real world.
Without any control, Baoba saw countless stars, a mysterious glowing ocean, an endless mountain, a city in the depths of a lava lake, a desert of gold, plains of emerald, and much more.
In the end, just as the universe was forcefully pushing him back into his body, just before entering time again, he saw one more thing.
A black dot. An infinitely dark and immensely cold dot. A dot so egregious, so out of place he could not believe he lived all his life without noticing it. It was only a dot, but it seemed to hold every nightmare and all powers inside.
And as Baoba looked at it, it looked back.
And Baoba knew it would not stop looking back.
****
Venus was dying slowly. At least she was dying slower than her captain to her left, he was exceptionally messed up by now. His eyes were cloudy, he suffered a new injury every few seconds, and his swords looked like they weighed a ton.
Every once in a while, his movements would slow down noticeably, and he would get back to normal after getting a serious injury.
Venus would have loved to help him, but she herself was only holding on by a thread.
She quickly glanced up, confirming she wasn't hallucinating.
'Yep, the sun is actually rising...'
She didn't think that she would be alive at this point without her blessing boosting her physique.
She was really impressed by her team right now. None of them had her endurance, and yet they were lasting just as much as her.
At first, she thought she would have been the last one standing, somehow.
Seeing her crew die by her side one by one had not been a pleasant experience the first time, she was not looking forward to live through it again.
As she checked up on Baoba, worried, she noticed him slowing down again.
Then she saw the horrible smile draw itself on his tattered face.
Then she saw him open his mouth, as if to speak, only to close it shortly after.
And she also saw him stop moving.
He fell to his knees, and life seemed to escape his body as he fell down further.
Her heart stopped in fear. It was a problem, she desperately needed it not to miss any beats right now.
As a mass of beasts pounced on his corpse, she rushed to protect him, not caring about her own safety.
And then, she saw the light.
The light blue halo around his body quickly intensified, until it was a blazing white colour. His whole soul shone as opened his eyes with a frightened look, and then that light became even more blinding.
Venus closed her eyes, but it was still blinding. She covered them with her hands, but a lime green glow still passed through her whole body.
The monsters all screeched together, in a desolate symphony. They started giving off black smoke, as if evaporating.
Finally, like a soundless explosion, all the light surged out and collapsed into a point, before bouncing back out.
And suddenly, it was over.
The view was finally clear. Every single monster, even their corpses, had disintegrated. The orange hues of sunrise fell gently on the devastated landscape, and countless light particles persisted in the air, like a swarm of fireflies.
There were no fires left, only charred trees and dead land.
That and five elves, five elves who had all stared the reaper in the eyes just a few moments earlier.
Five teammates who were all alive and well.
'Wait, why are we well, actually ?'
Baoba touched his intact skin through his burnt and cut clothes, finding none of the numerous serious wounds he had suffered. Even his muscles didn't hurt as much as before.
Dumbfounded, he looked around, only to find that the same phenomenon had happened to all his friends. Urtica was only as pale as normal, Venus could stand upright, Capcsium only had her regular burn scars...
Pando was putting weight on her leg with a bewildered expression, testing her lucky recovery.
No, it was beyond luck...
Baoba exploded with laughter, he was holding his stomach as tears welled up in his eyes.
'Seriously, Mother ?'
Still laughing maniacally, he fell on his back, and saw the sky.
The clouds were coloured with a miryad shades of orange by the sunrise, to the west, some stars could still be seen. In the complete silence of the morning, only his hilarity proved life persisted.
'It's the one time I didn't ask for a miracle !'