It had taken the Elementals and Soldiers fifteen minutes to push the line from the Blue Dragon's landing site near the Portal to the low wall. They could advance no farther.
An endless brown Rat Tide poured over the wall. Piles of rat corpses blocked the Musketeers' lines of fire and gave the Rat Swarm behind them a way to drop down from above.
The Greater Earth Elementals holding the front line had begun to take damage. Cunning Elite Ratfolk hid among the tide, chipping away at the Earth Elementals' armor with their sharp weapons.
Fortunately, the search behind the lines was moving faster and faster. They rescued hundreds of residents from houses, cellars, and the docks.
Once they confirmed no survivors had been missed, the overseer squad's Captain, Faster, blew an ancient horn from a Northern Frontier family.
As the line contracted, the pressure on the Elementals eased sharply. Faster watched the sea. "There are still some survivors out there..."
Annan remembered what the timid girl had said. "Are there women and children on those boats?"
"Only men..."
"I think they'll be all right."
"Keep firing!" Femi roared as he returned from the front. "I don't want to find a single Bullet left in your guns when we get back!"
"Use every last Bullet!" Luoxi commanded, refusing to be outdone.
Each Musketeer had been issued fifty rounds. Apart from an unlucky few whose guns had jammed or whose triggers had failed, most had nearly emptied their ammunition pouches.
The wounded Musketeers retreated through the Portal first, followed by those who had run out of ammunition. When it was time for the rest to withdraw, they fired at the distant Rat Tide without caring whether they hit an unlucky Ratfolk—or whether it would count toward their Merit.
Only after every