Chapter Five Hundred And Seventy Eight - 578
Harsh screeches scratched at Loquis ears, and it was all he could do to shout orders over the din. The Brumalbats swarmed the blue sky, their ice-wreathed wings glittering like diamonds in the sunlight. They were huge, easily the size of a man, with twice the wingspan. A few weapons were hurled from the town below, but the simple black iron spears clattered harmlessly off their hides as the beasts swooped down. Women and children ran through the streets and into their homes, but they werent fast enough.
Aim for any that swoop too low to the town! Keep them from the people! he said.
Arrows and magic ripped from the Claw members, their Skills singing brightly in Loquis Affinity. Compared to the ineffectual spears, the effect was astounding. Perhaps forty of the giant bats were mortally wounded, with half as many wounded.
You Have Killed A Brumalbat!
XP Earned!
Loquis lowered his hand, staring at the horde. He wasnt sure if his lightning spells had actually killed them or just hurt it a bit, what with the amount of attacks darkening the sky. Theyd need another volley to be sure of the creatures resistances.
Before a second attack could be mustered, three dozen bats peeled off from the main horde and immediately wheeled toward their position. Loquis shouted a warning, and the mages to his left and right unleashed a torrent of lightning Mana. A number twitched and faltered, but only a single severely wounded bat actually perished.
He cursed. Theyre resistant to lightning damage! Hit them with anything else!
The Talon switched to their alternates, mowing down bat after bat with flame, shadow, force, and life magic. Everyone avoided ice and lightning if they could; everyone except Pit. Loquis was certain that the Chimera did not play by the same rules as the rest of them, as his massive ice spears that burst into tiny lightning storms killed all they touched.
For his part, the Half-Orcs only non-lightning spells were short range. Thankfully, he had a crossbow at his waist. Loquis pulled it up and squeezed the triggerbut the damn thing jammed. Before he could drop the weapon, a surviving Brumalbat dove, fangs opened wide for his throat. Loquis flinched, calling up a force ward
Blood, hot and wet, splattered against his face. Loquis jumped back, moments too late, to find the Brumalbat split in two before him. Did I?
A chain covered in sharp blades retracted from the corpse, flinging half of it into the open air. Whew, nasty little things, huh? Evie said.
You saved me, he managed through the ichor on his lips.
You uh, you got some gunk on ya, Evie said, motioning to his face. Next time, hit em with force or fire spells.
Right. Loquis gritted his teeth against the embarrassment. Hed underestimated the Brumalbats speed, otherwise hed have readied his shorter range Skills. Ive got a few.
I know. Hit their wings. They dont like it. She turned away, flicking her chain free of the smoking guts at her feet.
Wait. Let me help, Loquis said. He leaned down and ran his hand across the least deadly part of her chain, holding in a grunt of pain when a blade nicked his finger. Magic followed in the wake of his hand, a sizzling orange that made her chain links glow.
Ooh, whats that?
Loquis stood back up, pinching his injured finger to stem the blood flow. Incendiary Charge. Short-term buff; itll add extra fire damage to your attacks, and a low low chance to set things on fire.
Huh. She jerked her arm and the chain snapped out into the open air, where it caught the face of another diving monster. The creature screamed in pain and careened into the cliffside below. Evie laughed and punched his shoulder. I like it.
Loquis hid his painagainbut couldnt hide his beaming smile. Come back when you need it re-applied. Ill beuh, here. I mean, of course I will be.
Evie just laughed again and leaped into the sky. The Half-Orc mage watched her as she defied the laws of the world and flung herself about with the whirling of her glowing chain. It snapped out, wrapping around a Brumalbat from face to rear, allowing the agile warrior to spin around the still-flying monstrosity. Her chain ground into it, fire Mana flaring to melt through its icy flesh as she reached the zenith of her rotation and let go.
She rocketed out, into the greater swarm.
Wow.
Tempest Fugit!
Pit braced his legs as another twenty spears of ice burst from his Mana Gates and tore into the cloud of Inferior Elementals. Each one skewered a bat before exploding and releasing bursts of lightning that arced between the others. The lightning wasnt doing as much as it would on others, but Pit knew how these ice monsters worked. He wasnt concernednot about doing enough damage, at least.
What did chafe at him was his landbound position. He kept firing Tempest Fugit because that was his best long range Skill, but it left him feeling like one of those magic ballistas Alister made. The Yttin were next to him, hurling their harpoons in graceful arcs, before yanking hard on the braided silk ropes attached to their ends. Those ropes were coiled around thick, girdle-like belts, allowing their powerful back-appendages to get involved in the retrieval process. More than once, a resisting Brumalbat was dragged close, allowing Pit to finish them off and eat their core.
Evie was out there, practically flying as she slaughtered her way across the sky. Vess was too, and she was flying, standing atop a floating spear as she commanded her weapons like a general did their troops. A maelstrom of bronze discs and silver spears surrounded her, creating a zone of death that the Brumalbats feared to enter.
It was impressive, and frustrating. Down on the ground Pits vantage was limited, meaning he couldnt fire on the enemy; he was eager to eat as many cores as he could, but not if that meant he hurt his friends.
A trio of Brumalbats dove through the Dawnwalkers volley of arrows and let loose a flurry of bladed ice-shards from their wings. Right behind it came a terrible screech, a sonic attack that didnt hurt so much as needle their concentration. The Henaari flinched, and that was enough.
Dark Glacial Guard!
Pit was there, between the ice shards and the Dawnwalkers, his lean body coated in floating panels of shadowed ice. The attack bounced harmlessly off of him, and he retaliated.
Dawns Advent!
A crescent of golden energy ripped into the banking bats, slicing them from skull to sternum. Diver harpoons speared their chests, snagging the corpses at the last second.
You Have Killed A Brumalbat (x3)!Ñøv€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.
XP Earned!
Raven guide you, Honored Tenku, one of the Dawnwalkers said.
Mhm. Pit made a vague gesture with his paw. Same.
The Henaari shifted away, angling themselves so that they had better shots at the monsters attacking the city below. Their bows had incredible range, so they were well suited to the task. Pit just watched as his chances at affecting the battle dwindled.
In the center of the grotto was the red circle. Objects were placed in the circle, things that ranged from sinister to innocuous: two bloody vertebrae from something very big, a series of burning coals, two sets of fangs, one of ice and one of metal, a chunk of dark ice, and several small mounds of colored powder, each one a different hue. A giant-sized skull sat in the center, stripped of skin and covered in far too many horns, one of which looked as if it had grown into the poor creature's eye socket. Sigils glowed balefully from every inch of its surface.
The Witches were speaking.
A foul beast of ice and shadow has decimated our beasts! one hissed.
At least the Warriors have penetrated the gate, another said.
They have been pushed back! Warriors in bone have arrived and have stopped the Berserkers in their tracks!
They arent even of the Kin! Why are they here?
Unknown magic sours the air, sisters. What is happening?
We all felt it. Do not let yourself fear. The battle is not yet lost. A Witch that was half-a-head taller than the others turned her bright purple eyes on her fellows. Bring in the Destroyer.
Felixs Double blinked its bright eyes. Well that cant be good.
Theyre controlling the Brumalbats through some ritual, he said through his main Body. Whatever sigaldry the giants were using was unfamiliar to Felix, but that much was clear. And theyre getting desperate. Something about bringing in a Destroyer.
An Inferior Elemental horde, now a Destroyer. Only a full Coven could do that. she gasped. That means all of Feldspear Coven is on the field nowif you take the Coven, they can do nothing.
Are they all as strong as the Witches in Cold Rock? Beef asked. Because they felt tough.
They claim to be stronger, but Mother Vepar has never been successfully challenged in six decades. By any of the tribes.
Felix banished his Double, worried that it would be found. Cmon. Before I lose them again. My plan should work just fine, but dont take any chances.
Got it, Beef said. Hallow?
My Bodies are already moving.
Felix cracked his neck, the sound swallowed by Abyssal Skein. Then lets go meet the neighbors.
The Witches were in the midst of chanting when Felix landed among them all.
Hi there. For a shocked moment, no one did anything, but their Spirits raged. Felix lifted his hands. Let's not do anything well regret later, okay?
Fully half of the Witches acted at once, hurling a literal blizzard of ice magic at him. Felix lifted his hand, Rime Shaping the blastonly to find Kimaris magic joining his own. The blizzard was spun aside, coating nearby boulders in six inches of ice.
Face me, Feldspear! she cried, engaging with as many Witches as she could. Spells rained down, but Felix couldnt worry about her. He had other goals.
Ten hidden Berserkers burst from those low snowy mounds, exactly where hed tagged them earlier, but Felix ignored their frenzied approach. A Multipeded exploded from the heavy snow behind them, smashing into the Berserkers like a freight train. The Sharpwing Matriarch bisected one of the giants, her wings too much for its crystallized rage, and the Homunculus peppered them with shortsword-sized Crystalline Darts. Last was Beef, who splattered the enemy with every swing of his maul. The earth shook as the giants were taken down in seconds.
Half of the Coven scattered, turning chaotically to face Kimaris and Felix, while the rest seemed rooted to the spot around the red ritual circle. Kimaris fell to her knees, overcome by sheer numbers, and Felix zipped to her side. A maelstrom of magic descended on him, but Felix didn't care to figure out what it was gonna do. He opened his mouth.
Chthonic Tribute.
The storm of power hit him and was devoured. Silence overcame the grotto, the Witches gaping like fish out of water. Felix ran his tongue against his teeth, grimacing. Gah, that tasted bad. Why did that taste bad?
You ate their curses as well as their elemental attacks, Kimaris said through gritted teeth. She smiled at the shocked Witches, a grisly, bloody thing. It was all they had.
Oh good. Felix turned back to the Witches and the circle. Then we can end this.
Six Witches were down, felled by Kimaris power, and the Berserkers had been demolished. Beef stepped up alongside them, Hallows Bodies fanning outward to surround the enemy. As they moved, shards of ice rose from the ground, gleaming with ice Mana as protective wards wrapped around the remaining Witches. The purple-eyed leader stared daggers at Felix.
Oh, I used to have one of those, he said, pointing at the ice shard. Look. I dont need to kill you. Ill give you one
Tu ratha, Human! she spat. Whatever Cold Rock paid you, it was not enough! You will merely be the first to die. She lifted her hands, and whatever ritual they were enacting surged. Come, Destroyer!
Oh, come on, Im just trying to talk!
As if conjured from nothing, a monster surged across the tundra, a blur of steel and fur. To Felix it moved like it was underwater, but he knew it was too fast for everyone but Beef. A Superior Savage Therium, he realized. Hed run into them in the Ironskin Domain, but those had been a lot smaller. Strong, big reach, and decently fast. Im not gonna risk this fight spilling onto my friends.
End it fast.
Felix flared Sovereign of Flesh.
The Theriums Will proved as durable as its Body, which is to say not at all. Flesh sundered from bone and blood as Felix imposed his power on the beast, and the Superior Savage Therium unraveled.
It was gross.
Felix shaped the viscera away from his people, while flaring Rime Shaping at the same time. The ice shield flashed like opalescent lightning before each and every one of those shards cracked in half, and the shield failed. He let the majority of the beasts guts splash against the Witches, coating their fine robes and white hair.
Rime Shaping is level 86!
Like I was saying: one chance. Felix bared his normal, human teeth and every one of the Witches flinched. Stop. Or be stopped.
