“I could really use that covering fire right about now, Hal!” I called out to the mage as I landed from my desperate jump, only to be forced to drop down and roll across the ground once more, the behir’s aim rapidly improving with each second I gave it.
“Hold your horses! I’m working on it!” I heard Halcyon shout back at me a split second before a loud shattering sound filled the air, followed by a pained roar immediately afterward. “There you go! Now it’s my turn to run! Make the most of it!”
Twisting to glance at the creature as I pushed myself back up to my feet after my latest dodge, it only took me an instant to see what the mage had done in order to distract the behir. Where fire and lightning had proven to have little effect against the beast’s scales, Halcyon had resorted to the next element in his repertoire, throwing a large lance made of solid ice at it which finally managed to find a way through its defenses.
And more importantly, at least in my case, interrupting the seemingly endless stream of lightning that had been seconds away from cooking me alive.
“Damn! Great job, Hal!” I called out in appreciation as my eyes landed on the large shard of ice protruding from the behir’s side, its once pristine scales now covered with a layer of both frost and blood. “We can work with that!”
Howling loudly in response to the injury, the behir’s shock only lasted for a split second as its head shifted to inspect the wound, its teeth snapping out to grab the offending spike and tear it free. Crushing the magically conjured ice with a snap of its jaw, the creature wasted no time in turning its attention towards Halcyon, its mouth already beginning to glow once more as its eyes tracked the fleeing mage. Yet before it could spit forth another stream of its lightning breath, its efforts were interrupted by Amaranth’s sudden appearance directly at eye-level, the ætherwarped puma using Blink Strike to instantly close into point-blank range.
Arriving with the full weight of his charge behind him, Amaranth slammed into the raging behir’s head with enough force to send it reeling backward, followed by the creature’s entire body recoiling from the blow. But just making contact with the beast was far from the only thing that my familiar had in mind, his outstretched claws quickly sinking themselves into the behir’s scales as he latched onto the horned creature’s head.
Shaking my head at my familiar’s words as I continued to run towards the creature, I briefly considered to temper his confidence before dismissing the thought entirely, knowing that it would only fall on deaf ears during the battle. Instead, I focused my efforts on making the most of the distraction that both Halcyon and Amaranth had provided me and planned my own avenue of attack. So far, the behir had been able to completely dictate the terms of the battle that we’d found ourselves thrust into, and it was past time that we changed that.
Now let’s go figure out how we can do that, I thought as I finally entered into Blink Strike range myself and promptly triggered the spell, instantly crossing the distance separating me from the battle.
Arriving with a flash of magic to announce my presence, I followed Amaranth’s example in my opening attack, reappearing at near point-blank range beside the behir, Splinter’s jagged edge carving a wicked line across what passed for the creature’s chest and shoulder. But that single slice across the behir’s body was all that I had time for in my initial strike, both my momentum and the creature’s own panicked movement as it tried to dislodge Amaranth then taking me along its flank. Evading a pair of claw-tipped legs that threatened to crush me as I rushed along the behir’s twisting side, I slashed out against both of the offending limbs, yet I only managed to draw blood once, thanks to the thick scales armoring it.
Damn, this thing is tough and fast! I exclaimed mentally as I was forced to leap sideways after my successful attack, the lizard’s sinuous body lashing itself in my direction with serpentine grace. Had it not been for all the enhancements coursing through my body, I was almost certain that I would have been crushed, or failing that, hit with enough force to send me sprawling. Whoa! That was too close a call! Time to change things up!
Experience, or better put, painful experience, had long since taught me the dangers of being predictable when facing creatures larger and stronger than myself, especially when the slightest mistake could lead to serious injury. Rapid movement and making the most of my smaller size were the best two tactics that I had in my arsenal to make sure that I didn’t end up becoming a crimson stain on the forest floor. As such, I made sure to lean heavily on them both, using the advantage that my enhanced agility gave me to jump onto the behir’s back, using one of its clawed legs as a convenient set of steps to aid my climb. But as I landed on the lizard’s thrashing back, I saw that I was far from the only one who had learned those lessons, spotting the familiar form of Berwyn already racing along its spine, his trademark punching daggers in either hand.
“Lyrian,” he greeted me in a surprisingly calm voice. “It seems we’ve been expertly ambushed.”
“You could say that again,” I replied in a dry tone as I gestured towards the back of behir’s serpentine neck with Splinter, signaling him to where I was heading next. “Have you seen any of the others?”
“Only Kilgore,” Berwyn answered as we fell into line with one another, the monster’s back more than large enough for us to rush along its length side by side. “I haven’t seen—oh, never mind, there they are now.”
Appearing mid-sentence from the nearby forest to our left was a cloud of blood-red magic that lanced out at the behir before splashing against its scales ahead of us, courtesy of Caius, who was now rushing towards us with Constantine beside him. Slightly behind them and looking a little worse for wear were Theia and Cassius, the pair covered in a mixture of both blood and dirt, no doubt the result of the battle’s initial start.
“Good!” I exclaimed as I glanced in the direction of the party, feeling a surge of relief to see that everyone was still alive and standing. I had no idea how the behir had managed to sneak up on us without any of us spotting it, but the fact that we’d all managed to survive its opening attacks meant that we still had a good chance to beat it. “Then let’s see if we can’t get this battle back onto the right foot.”
Putting on a burst of speed, Berwyn and I ran across the behir’s twisting and thrashing back as best we could, its continuing efforts to dislodge Amaranth from its head causing its body to contort and writhe wildly. Fortunately, however, the movement combined with the relatively short distance that we had to travel wasn’t enough to significantly affect our balance, both Berwyn and I leaping forward to deliver two simultaneous attacks on either side of the creature’s neck.
“Rah!” I exclaimed with a loud grunt afterward as I hit the ground, tucking myself into a graceful roll to lessen the impact and put some distance between me and the now-enraged behir, who promptly let out a bone-chilling cry in response to our attacks.
Well, we’ve definitely pissed it off now! I exclaimed mentally as I completed my tumble and pushed myself back to my feet, quickly spinning to face the creature, eager to see the damage that Berwyn and I had wrought. Yet as I turned towards the beast, I found my attention completely stolen away by the unexpected appearance of the behir’s now bleeding face, the creature having finally managed to dislodge my familiar’s grip.
At a price.
Bearing a violent patchwork of claw and teeth wounds across its face, a steady stream of blood dripped from the massive serpent’s chin, making the twin wounds that Berwyn and I had inflicted on its neck look like minor papercuts in comparison. Regardless of how they looked, however, the array of injuries was still far from enough to tip the battle in our favor as the behir promptly demonstrated, its mouth began to crackle with electricity once more.
&nbs
p; “Oh, no, not this time, you overgrown lizard!” Halcyon’s voice shouted a second before a large shard of ice flew into the behir’s open maw, causing it to choke. “We’ve had just enough of you doing that!”
Letting out a loud retch in response to the mage’s timely attack, the building storm of power in the creature’s mouth then promptly vanished, replaced by a stream of frozen blood spraying outwards in every direction as it violently shook its head. Sensing opportunity at the mage’s timely intervention, I promptly launched myself back towards the wounded creature, shouting to the others as I moved.
“Here’s our chance! Hit it as hard as you can!” I exclaimed as I darted in close to the behir and delivered another sweeping cut across its body, followed after by a Flameburst at close range, charring the wound I’d inflicted until it turned completely black.
Following suit on my heels was the remainder of the party as we all proceeded to pile on the behir, attacking it with a savage frenzy from every direction, the battle then turning into a blur. In one moment I saw Cassius appear beside me with both of his battleaxes in hand, the powerfully built Eberian scout going on to deliver a series of punishing blows, the lizard’s hard jade scales doing little to stop him. Then in the next instant, I was beside both Constantine and Amaranth, the three of us working briefly in tandem to allow the rogue to deliver a punishing strike with one of his poison-coated blades, courtesy of his newfound alchemical vocation. From there, we were all forced to scatter as the now raging behir turned its full attention on us, prompting a series of desperate dodges where we were lucky to escape with only minor to moderate injuries.
Yet while we braved the dangers of fighting up close and personal with the behir, our spellcasters and ranged attackers contributed no less than we did, distracting, hindering, and wounding the mighty beast wherever and however they could. In the case of Theia, that support came in the form of her shamanistic magic, which worked to slow and dull both the beast’s mind and reflexes, allowing us to stay just one step ahead of it or healing us when we failed. After her, there was both Halcyon and Caius, the mage and warlock’s role taking up a notably less subtle position in the overall battle, the pair raining down a steady stream of devastating magic, greatly injuring the beast. In the case of Caius, his efforts were further bolstered by his array of newly learned curses and hexes, which caused the behir to howl in pain. Then, not to be left out, was Kilgore, the elf making deadly use of his massive greatbow to launch a steady stream of arrows into the fray, each of them finding their mark with the fury of a lightning strike behind them.
Staggering from under our coordinated assault it was all the behir could do to weather our combined attacks, painfully realizing that what it had thought would be an easy meal was, in fact, anything but and that it was now in for the fight of its life. Howling loudly, it didn’t take long for the beast to adjust to the situation, its movements and behavior becoming frenzied and enraged as it attacked us with renewed fervor.
“Heads up, everyone! Now it’s really ang—oof!” I heard Constantine start to call out as the behir’s shrieking scream split the air, causing us all to reflexively wince at its volume. But before the rogue could finish his warning, the serpentine creature’s tail lashed itself forward with an unexpected surge of speed, slamming into him with enough force to wind him while simultaneously wrapping itself around him. Lifting him off the ground a second later, the behir then swung its tail from side to side through the air around it, using the man as an impromptu club to attack us with.
“Hang on, Constantine!” I called out, narrowly managing to duck under the man’s legs as they sailed over my head. “I’m coming!”
“You say that like I have a choice!” he shouted back at first in an angry tone, only to rapidly shift into a pained one as he continued speaking. “Ah, shit, just hurry! It’s trying to crush me!”
Moving without hesitation, I didn’t waste another second in rushing to the rogue’s aid, my feet taking me along the creature’s side as I sprinted after the flailing tail. As I did, I saw the others also begin to react to the battle’s sudden change in pace, either scrambling to avoid being hit by Constantine or evading the behir’s wrath itself as it continued to claw and bite at everything within range.
Let’s hope that I can time this right! I exclaimed mentally as I worked myself into a sprint, Alacrity’s hasting effects giving me the time I needed to study the tail’s movements. Adjusting my pace as I ran, I waited until I saw the appendage begin to swing its way back towards me, then leapt forward into the air while simultaneously triggering Blink Strike. Here we go!
Reappearing in the air with a flash of magic, I barely had the time to process my sudden shift in location before I was cutting into the behir’s tail as it passed just above me, Splinter’s jagged edge biting deep into its scaley surface. Then as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished, as my momentum carried me past the tail and back down towards the ground where I landed in a roll on the far side of the creature. Wasting no time as I came to a stop, I sprang back up to my feet the first opportunity I could and turned to look back toward the behir, only to see its massive maw suddenly fill my vision as it descended directly down on top of me, the creature having somehow managed to twist its body in response to my attack with blinding speed.
“Oh, shit!” I exclaimed in a sudden panic, feeling my eyes go wide as I gazed directly into the open mouth and the countless teeth within. Immediately, my brain began to shout at me to move my feet backward in a desperate attempt to evade the snapping teeth. But before I could even begin to listen to my inner voice and start to move, I saw a flash of light appear out of the corner of my eye, followed by something heavy slamming into my left side. Letting out a gasp as it did so, the impact hit me with enough force to completely knock the wind out of me and send me sprawling across the ground.
“Ugh,” I wheezed as I landed heavily on my side and slid across the ground, the unexpected blow stunning me and causing my vision to turn into one big blur. Sucking in a deep breath, I did my best to shake off the hit and refocus on my surroundings, my heart suddenly leaping in my chest as I saw the behir’s head begin to rise, a familiar azure-furred form in its mouth.
“Shit, Amaranth!” I called out with renewed panic as I moved to scramble to my feet, instantly realizing that my familiar had teleported to my side just in time knock me out of the way of the creature’s attack. Unfortunately, however, by doing that, he had placed himself directly into the beast’s path and was caught in the bite that had been destined for me.
Letting out a vicious snarl in response to my familiar’s attack, Amaranth then promptly flew out of range as the behir began to thrash its head from side to side while continuing to bite down on his armored body.
“It’s about time we killed this thing!” I shouted out to the group as I forced my still aching body to move, my eye belatedly turning towards the lizard’s tail to assess the damage that I’d done in my attempt to free Constantine.
Only to find myself staring at a partial stump that spurted blood every time that it thrashed through the air.
Wait, did I do that? I asked myself as I stared at the severed appendage with wide eyes. But that momentary wonder only lasted for an instant until I saw Cassius rush into view from behind the behir, both of his axes, along with the majority of his body, covered in blood.
“Aim for its legs!” the man shouted as he rounded the multi-li
mbed creature and followed through on his words, bringing down one of his weapons on what passed for a knee on one of its claw-tipped appendages. “It can’t attack us if it can’t move!”
Propelled by what I assumed had to be battle-potion-enhanced strength, I saw Cassius’s axe bite deep into the behir’s leg with enough force to cause it to bend awkwardly. But the man didn’t stop there with his efforts, bringing his second axe down on the heels of the first, the impact stressing the limb beyond what it could take, resulting in a loud bone-shattering crunch to echo through the air. Caught watching the man’s efforts as I struggled to get my body moving, I saw the crippled limb instantly go limp as it folded under the behir’s massive weight, the creature letting out pained, whining roar in response.
Inspired by the sight, it was all that I needed in order to rush back into the fray as I moved to follow Cassius’s example, my lungs desperately sucking in what air I could to fuel my efforts. As I did, I saw both Constantine and Berwyn appear to also follow the scout’s lead, the pair moving to attack another set of the behir’s legs together with similar results. But where Cassius had managed to injure the limb with sheer strength, the two attacked with deadly precision, slicing and stabbing at the muscles and tendons that gave it strength.
Which is what I’ll have to try and do too, I realized as I triggered Blink Strike once again, reappearing directly behind the behir’s forward-most leg where I lunged forward to deliver a sweeping overhead slash with Splinter. Empowered by the magic of the spell, the jagged blade carved a wicked line across the scales armoring the limb and through the flesh beneath, giving me an initial starting point to work from. Fueled by the urgency of my trapped familiar, I followed the opening attack with two more in rapid succession, further widening the wound that I’d made. By the time my third strike landed, it was a much more measured and precise blow, the familiar mantra that I’d been reciting for the last day beginning to echo through my mind.
Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) Page 42