The moment Carlos started thinking, he realized he did not have that privilege. He thrust his spear into the first creature’s chest.
The second attacked immediately, and Carlos released the spear with one hand and caught it by the throat.
Burning claws scraped across his Ironweave Coat, but Carlos slammed the hound against the Gate Anchor twice until its skull cracked.
[Ash Hound eliminated]
The final hound bit his leg, but its teeth failed to penetrate the Wolfhide Boot.
Carlos drove his heel into its neck and stabbed down.
[Ash Hound eliminated]
He inspected the spike.
--
Gate Anchor
HP: 600/600
Defense: High
Weakness: Mana-rich Water, concentrated physical impact
--
"Blue, cover it!"
The Sprite sent a stream of Mana Water over the black iron.
The red symbols flickered.
[Gate Anchor Defense reduced]
Carlos summoned an Iron Pickaxe and struck the spike as if it were an Iron Ore vein he needed to collect.
[Gate Anchor HP: 527/600]
Then again.
[Gate Anchor HP: 451/600]
The chain suddenly tightened as the Warden pulled from inside the portal. Carlos quickly wrapped one arm around the spike before it could leave the ground.
The chain dragged him through the ruined wheat.
"NO!" Carlos screamed in frustration and pain.
He drove the pickaxe into the soil and stopped himself. The muscles in both arms tightened as the Warden pulled harder and harder.
Carlos’s body moved another foot. He was about to be yanked away with the chain when a massive figure charged toward him.
Brann’s hammer struck the Gate Anchor, and the spike bent under the impact.
[Gate Anchor HP: 203/600]
Brann lifted his hammer again and used Heavy Strike.
The Anchor broke under the impact, and the Bearkin laughed as the chain snapped backward into the portal.
[Gate Anchor destroyed]
[Reverse Gate Stability reduced]
The Warden’s six eyes turned toward Carlos and Brann.
A pulse of black fire came through the gate.
"DOWN!"
Carlos and Brann dropped behind the broken field barrier.
Hellfire passed over them and struck the northern Guard Tower.
One jumped from the platform before it collapsed.
[Northern Guard Tower destroyed]
Carlos watched burning wood fall beside the Rare plot.
His grip around the pickaxe tightened until the wounds across his hands opened again.
"Brann, kitchen Anchor."
The Bearkin pointed toward the Ash Hounds between them.
"Many there," he said.
"Then kill them."
Brann looked at Carlos’s expression once. He roared and charged forward. His hammer threw the first hound into the wall. Kaia and two guards joined him near the kitchen, their shields holding a narrow line while Mira threw water over any flame that reached the building.
The southern tower archer fired continuously.
One used Water Shot from the ground.
The territory had become a battlefield again, even though the previous raid had ended only hours ago.
Carlos ran toward the Mana Spring and four Ash Hounds surrounded Blue.
The Sprite hid inside the damaged Mana Spring while the creatures clawed at its stone edge.
"GET AWAY FROM BLUE!"
Carlos threw the Iron Pickaxe. Its pointed head buried itself between the first hound’s ribs. Whenever the pressure became unbearable, Carlos’s aim seemed to become unnaturally precise.
He reached the second and drove his spear through its open mouth.
The third jumped onto his back and Carlos fell beside the spring.
Fire burned through his coat and reached his shoulder.
--
HP: 292/360
--
Pain tore through Carlos as second-degree burns blistered every part of his shoulder the hound had touched.
He grabbed the hound’s front leg and threw it into the water with more force than necessary.
Blue hardened the water around it, trapping the creature beneath the surface.
Its confident barking turned into panicked cries.
Carlos stabbed until it stopped moving. Before he could turn toward the final hound, One arrived and fired a Water Shot into it.
The Water Shot exposed the black bones beneath its smoke.
Carlos broke them with the spear shaft.
[Ash Hound eliminated]
[Ash Hound eliminated]
[Ash Hound eliminated]
[Ash Hound eliminated]
Blue rose from the spring.
"Bloo..."
"Stay behind me. We are destroying this Anchor."
Mana Water covered the second spike.
Carlos pulled the Iron Pickaxe from the dead hound and attacked the Anchor. One fired Water Shot into the red symbols with everything it had. Carlos noticed that the stream was thicker and stronger than before.
The Anchor’s health fell dramatically. It no longer seemed as unbreakable as it had at first.
The Warden pulled its chain again, but this time, Carlos did not try to hold the spike alone.
He grabbed the loose chain and wrapped it around the remains of the Mana Spring’s stone edge.
The Warden pulled again, but the chain only tightened around the spring’s broken stone edge.
Carlos struck the Anchor where the chain connected, using the few seconds the trapped chain had given him.
CRACK!
[Gate Anchor destroyed]
Carlos looked across the territory. Two Anchors remained.
The Warden pushed farther through the portal.
Its second shoulder crossed the opening.
--
[Reverse Gate Stability: 61%]
[Breach acceleration detected]
--
"Why did it increase?"
The two remaining Anchors burned brighter.
[Destroyed Gate Anchor load transferred]
[Remaining Anchors now generate stability twice as quickly]
Carlos could no longer pretend this fight was fair. It was almost as if the world itself was against him.
He looked toward the kitchen.
Both Kaia and Brann had reached the third Anchor. Unlike Carlos, they had not stopped to read the notification.
The fourth stood beside the Bearkin Hall.
Ash Hounds continued crawling from both Anchors in an unending stream.
--
[Reverse Gate Stability: 68%]
--
Carlos ran as fast as he could.
The Warden’s six eyes remained fixed on Carlos. It had identified him as its main target. The creature moved its free hand, and one of the chains rose from the ground like a living snake.
The chain shot forward, pierced the air above Carlos and narrowly missed him. His heart skipped. If the spike had pierced his body, everything would have ended there.
Instead, the iron links wrapped around Brann’s chest.
The Bearkin struck the chain with his hammer, but the iron links refused to break.
The Warden pulled and Brann’s feet left the ground.
He flew across the territory toward the black portal.
The sight was difficult to believe. Carlos knew how heavy the Bearkin was.
Carlos changed direction instinctively. He ran toward the chain dragging Brann away and jumped. He grabbed it with both hands, and the force lifted him too.
Kaia caught Carlos by the leg. He had not even noticed her approaching.
For one second, the three of them formed a line between the territory and the gate.
The Warden pulled again.
Kaia’s boots carved trenches through the soil. Her legs bent under the pressure until Carlos feared her knees would snap.
"LET GO!" Carlos shouted at Kaia.
"No!" the Guard Captain refused outright.
"Protect the territory!"
For a moment, Kaia’s grip tightened. She had been summoned for the sole purpose of protecting the territory.
The chain dragged them closer to the portal. Black fire moved behind the Warden’s six eyes.
Carlos looked at the two Anchors.
[Reverse Gate Stability: 82%]
There was no time left. Holding on for dear life, he moved toward Kaia and kicked her hand away.
"CARLOS!"
The chain pulled Carlos and Brann into the air, sending both of them flying toward the Warden.
A system warning covered Carlos’s vision.
[You are about to cross the Reverse Conquest boundary]
[Recommended Action: Leave the troop and get away from the chain]
[Crossing will seal the portal behind the Lord]
[Return will be impossible until the Chainbound Hell Warden is killed]
Carlos looked back once. The wheat he had worked so hard for was burning. The orders for tomorrow had already been promised. If he failed to provide them, items of equal value would be taken from his inventory instead.
The tower built with his precious resources had collapsed as though it were made from rotten wood.
Mira, Rowan, Blue, One and the guards stood between the remaining Ash Hounds and everything they had built.
Fury burned hotter than the wounds across his body. Carlos turned toward the six eyes waiting inside the gate.
He tightened his grip until the chain burned his skin, but the adrenaline buried the pain.
The chain entered the portal and Carlos didn’t look back.
Either he conquered the invasion this way, or there would be no tomorrow. Not for any of his troops.
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