Godslayer Interlude - First Battle of Hochhalde

Senior Soldier Zhing Tu Yulee of the Karris Monarchy jumps over the fallen tree and fires her bolt action rifle at the closest of the Hochhalden soldiers.

The male Kith, wearing the black and yellow armour of city’s defenders, topples over as the bullet pierces his chest armour, tearing through the metal.

With the enemy alerted to her presence, both Zhing and the forces of the Free City dart for cover even as more Karric soldiers arrive. Zhing hurriedly crouches behind a boulder.

With reinforcements arriving, Zhing stands upright and aims her at one of the two remaining Hochhalden soldiers. She pulls the trigger and ducks back down behind the boulder even as the fallen Hochhalden soldier falls backwards with a bleeding hole in head.

The last Hochhalden soldier, a burly and robust looking fellow, isn’t going down without a fight and aims his black powder musket at one of the other two Karric soldiers with Zhing.

The ball of metal strikes the young Kith soldier in the upper right shoulder, not quite piercing the armour and instead lodging itself in both the flesh of the shoulder and the metal of the shoulder plate.

As the Karric soldier cries out in pain and drops to his knees, clutching his shoulder. Now reloaded, Zhing and the other Karric soldier both open fire on the final Hochhalden. But both of them miss as the man rolls to the side, casting aside his weapon and he snatches up the unused weapon of one of his fallen comrades.

Even as Zhing hurries to reload, she can only watch helplessly as the Hochhalden fires his new black power musket at Zhing’s fellow soldier. The Kith girl doesn’t stand a chance as the metal ball strikes her in the forehead.

Her eyes are wide with shock as her head jerks back from the impact and Zhing stares as she falls backwards, her bolt action rifle falling to the ground.

With an angry growl, Zhing charges at the Hochhalden savage, using three hands to hold her bolt action rifle steady while her lower left hand draws a sword. But the Hochhalden moves faster than Zhing would have expected from a brute like him.

He smacks Zhing’s rifle off to the side as she pulls the trigger, causing it to miss. He grabs her by the throat and grips her lower left wrist, squeezing it so she drops her blade. As she begins to panic, a bullet flies past her and strikes the man in the left of his chest.

As blood pools around wound, the Hochhalden barbarian leads out a cry of anger and pain.

“1Mollis3!” roars the brute as he throws Zhing through the air.

Zhing slams into the boulder. Her back and head spike with pain as she falls to the ground, slumping against the boulder. Dazed and in pain, Zhing staggers to her feet and stumbles forward as she hears more gunshots and cries of pain.

Zhing glances towards the sounds of battle and see the Hochhalden soldier amongst another group of Karric soldiers. Two are already on the ground, moving, while another pair are fighting in melee combat with the Hochhalden.

Wielding two falchions, the Hochhalden soldier cuts off the arm of one of his opponent with one fell swipe. As the other Karric tries to aim her musket at the Hochhalden monster, he spins around, ramming one of his blades into her gut.

As the Karric soldier gasps in pain, dropping her musket, the Hochhalden uses his other falchion to stab her through the eye. With the Kith slain, the barbarian turns back around and slashes open the throat of the three-armed Kith.

Drawing one of her two remaining blades, Zhing charges at the Hochhalden soldier. With how strong and dangerous he is, Zhing doesn’t believe that she can actually beat him, but she needs to try anyway. She can’t just let him get away after what he has done.

The Hochhalden turns to face her as Zhing closes with him, a madden smile on his face as he readies his bloody blades.

But neither of them gets the chance to attack the other as a shell comes down between, blowing them both away.

Zhing is sent flying backwards through the air and lands with a painful thump as she hits the ground, unable to feel her legs.

In howling agony and barely keeping conscious, Zhing stares at where the Hochhalden soldier has landed, her vision flickering with the blackness that is threatening to overcome her.

The monster has lost his left leg and his lower left arm lies mangled and bloodied at his side. Zhing hears the crack of several bolt action rifles firing and several hit the Hochhalden brute, but he just unleashes a feral laugh and throws both of his falchions at the Karric forces.

While Zhing can’t see the results, she can hear two separate cries of pain. Another explosion goes off as another artillery shell hits the Hochhalden soldier and a second volley of rifle fire is unleashed upon the brute.

Zhing doesn’t get to see what happens next as unconsciousness finally overtakes her.