The dwarves were quite a bit shorter than the defending humans, but their appearance was anything but childlike. In movies, dwarves were often allied with humans, and looked a lot like them, but not these. Red, glowing, and empty eyes stared out unblinking from under rough metal helmets full of dents. Beards covered most of their faces, but the small patches of skin showed deep-purple lines going from the eyes and outward in every direction. Snarls on their faces revealed yellow and blackened pointed teeth that looked to be as much a weapon as the axes they carried. All of them moved in complete silence as they broke through the protective wall of the human outpost, crashing against the sparse line of defenders.

  Dwarven Conscript. Level 6.

  Dwarven Conscript. Level 7.

  Dwarven Soldier. Level 8.

  Dwarven Shrieker. Level 6.

  On and on it went. Luke watched as Curtis swung that giant sword of his in an overhead arc, slamming it down on the heads of several dwarves. More took their place, surging forward and forcing the Reaver back. With so many defenders around him, Curtis couldn’t use the wide swings he was otherwise so fond of, and it put him at a disadvantage. The Dwarven Shrieker opened its mouth wide and let out a keening sound that made Luke wince.

  Debuff Status. Dwarven Thrumming: Your vision diminishes.

  Darkness closed in around everything, and Luke’s vision pulled in on itself, making it much more difficult to see. Vision returned an instant later, and he saw an arrow jutting out from the Shrieker’s throat. The tight-packed throng of attackers made it difficult for the dead dwarf to fall. Instead, those around it pressed in, carrying the dwarven corpse forward a few steps before slipping down, another taking its place.

  “Curtis! You have to fall back!” Luke shouted, but Curtis didn’t hear him over the din of battle.

  The rain of arrows from defenders standing on rooftops, and even their methodical defense with a line of thrusting spears, followed by a step back and another thrust, wouldn’t do much more than thin the oncoming herd. There was no winning this. Defenders fell at a disconcerting pace, and the ever-advancing monstrous dwarves trampled the injured. This meant Luke didn’t stand a chance at healing any of them with his lack of range.

  Two others pulled one such injured defender back, falling back behind the front line. Luke rushed up and got down. The human defender had lost an arm. Just a stump remained at the shoulder.

  Luke pressed his hand to the injured man's chest. "I'm going to heal you. Stay still!"

  The injured man still squirmed, but those who'd dragged him back held the defender down, allowing a moment for healing. Just like the woman with the arrow in her leg, this one didn't have mana channels. Luke had considered the issue. Last time, he used the Integrated's own mana channels to put a pain-dampening layer of mana in and around the nerves. The same should be doable using his own Threads of Mana.

  Using that idea, he pushed a thread into the bundle of nerves in the shoulder by the wound and used the same method. The injured man stopped his squirming, his eyes widening in surprise, and his facial expression of agony relaxed a little. It had worked. He was pain-free, but Luke's mana plummeted at an alarming rate. This was not sustainable. At all.

  He rushed the rest of the procedure, healing the shoulder, stitching the stump together, and stemming the flow of blood. It took mere seconds, but he still lost a good half of his mana. After all that trouble, the injured man gave a grunt of thanks, then got up, grabbed his spear in his one hand, and hurried back to the front. Luke marveled at his tenacity.

  The battle lines bulged inward near him, and Luke spotted Curtis falling back, bleeding from several places, on both arms, a shoulder, and even his left leg.

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  "Fall back!" Halsem shouted. He'd been missing up until that point. Doing what Luke didn't have a clue, but with him on the field of battle, morale improved.

  The defenders stood a little taller and fell back with practiced skill. Dwarves harried them at every step, and the enemies kept coming in through the hole in the wall, spreading out and threatening to break through at the sides, which meant the defenders would soon find themselves surrounded.

  ”Ready blast!” Halsem cried out.

  Luke, who’d approached the line of defenders to aid them, craned his neck and looked around as everyone else made themselves small, shying away from the front and bracing for something. White light erupted just inside the broken-down wall, followed by a shockwave strong enough to lift Luke off his feet and throw him back to the ground.

  Whatever explosive they’d used, it made no sound whatsoever, but Luke’s ears were still ringing as he got to his feet. The dwarven attackers were either gone, dead, or dying, almost all of them. Limbs were missing, or big chunks of dwarven bodies were just gone. That blast caught a few defenders as well. Defenders pulled the injured back wherever possible. Soon, the sound returned.

  Luke pointed at the now even larger hole in the wall. “More incoming!”

  This time, they pushed in, and rather than going forward and spreading out, they concentrated their attack on Luke's left, chopping viciously with their wide-bladed axes, killing defenders and breaking through.

  Concentrated rays of light shot out from a contraption affixed to a nearby building, searing through dwarves like they were nothing, killing dozens, but even that wasn't enough to break the tide, and soon Luke stood in the center of a churning sea of chaos.

  Curtis fought nearby, looking even worse than before. Luke, along with a small group of defenders, pushed forward, reaching the Reaver. Luke used The Healer's Moment that had just come off cooldown and worked in a frenzy, patching Curtis up, closing multiple injuries, and taking care of a piercing wound that had taken him in the side.

  The Healer's Moment ended, and Curtis stumbled. It looked like he was about to tell Luke off, but he stopped himself and just gave a nod of appreciation. His sword turned the darkest black, and he rushed forward with impressive speed, spinning and killing dwarves in droves. As soon as the blade touched an attacker, the red light in their eyes went out, and they fell to the ground, dead. Soon, he was too deep among the dwarves for Luke to follow.

  The defenders near him were falling, and an axe chopped down from Luke's right. He had to throw himself back and down to avoid the blow. A dwarf stood over him and raised his axe, but before he could chop down, a defender ran the dwarf through with a spear. Another dwarf took the dead one's place, and this time the axe fell. Luke rolled to the side, putting the staff into his inventory, then rolled back against the axe, now stuck in the ground, reaching out with both hands to grab the dwarf's arm.

  Luke pulled, forcing the dwarf down to the ground. Grunting, he pushed the enemy's face to the side with one hand and put the other in the middle of his chest, slicing with Needle of Life. Mere seconds later, he held a monster core in his hand.

  More dwarves were coming. Luke summoned his staff and used it to get to his feet, then arced it over his head, slamming the butt into the metal helm of a female dwarf. She was coming for him with a one-handed axe and a shield. The blow dazed her, but she didn't fall. Her first attack struck Luke's staff. The blow was too weak to cut through, but a second one followed, forcing Luke to use Healer's Staff.

  With that moment's respite, Luke used Threads of Mana with Weaver's Grasp, reaching out through his hand, and wrapped it around the blade of the female dwarf's axe. When she pulled back, the axe stayed. She growled and leapt for him, but a defender ran her through, killing her.

  Luke took the axe into his inventory, along with the woman's corpse. The defenders gave him strange looks when the monster just disappeared, but they were too preoccupied trying to stay alive to question what the hell he’d just done.

  Curtis was in danger again, though this time, he was falling back. Two defenders to Luke's right received grievous injuries. Again, they were too far away for Luke to heal.

  He stepped out of range of a blow coming from his left, used his staff to push two dwarves back, taking them by surprise, then reached out with a hand, grabbing one of them. The other dwarf lashed out with a short sword, taking Luke in the shoulder before he could duck away. Pain seared through his shoulder, radiating down his arm and into his chest. Luke cried out and stepped away without losing his grip on the first dwarf.

  Without time to get at the monster's core, he lashed out with Needle of Life. It reached into his enemy's brain. The dwarf's glowing red eyes went dark, and it fell to the ground, legs kicking against the ground in a seizure for a brief moment before it fell dead. Luke took the corpse into his inventory as he barreled forward to knock the second one off its feet.

  More were coming, and Luke felt blood trickling down along his arm, dripping from his fingers. This was not a good idea. He was a healer, not a fighter, even if he'd surprised himself with what he was capable of. Things were going from bad to worse, and Luke spotted dwarves running between buildings deeper inside the outpost.

  In a minute or two, the defenders would be overrun.