The Rat Swarm swept them along, leaving no way to escape.
But even under its control, they could influence its route a little.
With the Soldiers deliberately guiding it, they reached a rock. Instead of being surrounded on all sides, they now faced enemies on three.
Next came...
"Pick up the pace!" A Cavalryman suddenly broke from the group, scrambled up the rock on all fours, and stood atop the boulder, panting and laughing. "Look at me, you ugly rat bastards! I have an announcement!"
The surrounding Ratfolk instinctively looked up at the Cavalryman on the rock.
"In the name of the Empire, I curse you! Your bodies will be smashed to pieces, and your souls will fall forever into the Abyss, to suffer every torment there is!"
As his words faded, a strange, indescribable sound rose from the bloodstained horizon.
Deeper than the hum of a swarm of bees, sharper than an enraged Dragon's roar, it carried the breath of Hell's furnaces as it tore through the cold air of the Far North.
Everyone looked up at once. In the bloodshot eyes of the Cavalryman atop the boulder, dozens of Falling Stars streaked across the sky toward them, as though Death had slashed the heavens with a rusty scythe.
Wooo—wooo—
A shriek that ripped through the air drowned out the battlefield.
Dark red tails of flame, born of metal scraping through air, traced scorching arcs overhead before striking the Sandy Beach around the Blackwatch Legion.
An unprecedented roar followed. The air shuddered, the ground shook beneath their feet, and towering columns of smoke and fire erupted. Countless Elite Ratfolk were destroyed by the flames before they could make a sound.
Was a powerful mage casting Firefall?
Before the echoes of the first bombardment faded, a second wave of "Falling