Yuta had been a soldier for ninety-seven years and served as an enforcer at Stormfall for forty-five years.
He had fought beasts in the desert, pirates on the coast, and twice, he had stood in the shield wall when the Rune Beasts came down from the mountains in the spring floods. He had seen men die, and had seen them die badly, but he had never seen anything like this.
The tide rose from the hole like something the earth was vomiting up.
Bodies pressed against bodies, limbs tangled, claws scrabbling at stone and flesh alike. They came in a wave that filled the alley from wall to wall, and they did not stop.
It was almost impossible for a normal mind to describe what was happening, and only instinct pushed Yuta on what he should do next, or he would have a grievous slaughter on his hands.
"Fall back!" Yuta's voice cut through the chaos, a command honed by decades. "Fall back to the warehouse! Form a line!"
