Launching himself forward with a powerful leap as we closed the distance, Amaranth was the first to enter the fray, the massive cat leaping at the leading snake with his claws outstretched. Following a few steps behind my familiar, I had just enough time to see him deliver a quick swipe to the spirit before darting away, narrowly evading a lunging bite that swept through the space he’d just been standing in. Badly out of position, the creature had no answer for my arrival a second afterward, Splinter chopping downward with all the force that could I muster from my short charge. Aimed and timed perfectly, there was nothing that it could do as the blade carved through its head, a surge of mana shooting up through my arm as it did so.
Exhaling a faint breath of relief as the cool energy flowed into me, I didn’t let up in my assault, following my opening strike with a second that swept straight through its throat. Had the spirit been a creature of flesh and blood, the exchange would have been over at that point with it lying on the ground bisected clean in two, but since it was an ethereal being, all that the two blows did was cause its form to waver and blur as the energy that fueled it bled out from the wounds that I’d inflicted, stunning it for an instant.
Which suited me fine, because I wasn’t looking to kill the spirit, but rather use it as a convenient mana battery to replenish what I’d contributed to the ritual.
To that end, my third attack wasn’t with Splinter, but rather my free hand as I thrust it into the swirling shadows that comprised the corrupted entity. Meeting a momentary push of resistance as I touched it, I used my strength to drive my hand deep into the spirit, the sensation lasting for just as long it took me to start draining mana. As soon as I did, the force resisting me simply melted away, allowing me to thrust the better part of my arm straight into the spirit. Writhing under my mana draining efforts, it only took a pair of seconds for the corrupted creature to go into a panic, desperately attempting to pull itself off me.
But to no avail.
Following the ethereal snake as it twisted and thrashed, I did my best to hang onto the creature for lack of a better description, my mana draining ability somehow allowing me to grab hold of the spirit as if it were a physical being—if at least for a short while. But after several seconds of desperate thrashing, it was able to break free, its form now looking weak and faint after I’d managed to drain a substantial amount of mana from it.
And also a healthy dose of corruption along with it.
Ugh, I forgot how sick this makes me feel, I thought as I gritted my teeth, feeling the hunger within surge up in reaction to the affliction I’d absorbed, sending a wave of nausea coursing through me. But at least it’ll give me a bit of a mana boost too.
Doing my best to push the brief wave of sickness aside, I finished off the now badly wounded spirit with a slash of Splinter before skipping around its disintegrating body and darting towards its partner, which had been busily dealing with Amaranth. Already wounded from its exchange with my familiar, the creature only managed to last a few more seconds after my arrival, allowing me a chance to top up my mana pool just a little bit further before it too faded away into nothingness.
“Not a bad start so far,” I told Amaranth after the two spirits were dead, my head pivoting to scan the clearing and seeing that everyone else seemed to have the situation in hand. Of the dozen or so spirits that had initially rushed into the clearing, only a pair remained standing, if at least for the time being. With Cassius, Berwyn, and Arcturus rushing towards them, I doubted that they would be for much longer.
Which means I have time to rush back into the circle and dump what mana I can spare again, I said silently, my feet already moving towards the ritual at a run, it only taking me a few seconds to cross the distance and re-enter the circle, the corruption that my hunger was still busily devouring doing little to slow me down.
And there goes round one, I thought as I began to pour my newly stolen mana into the ritual, earning a few curious glances from the nearby gronn in the process, they no doubt wondering how I’d managed to restore my mana so quickly. But no sooner did I finish contributing what mana was I able to spare did a voice call out again, this time belonging to Constantine as he announced another wave of attacking spirits, prompting me to turn and rush out again once more. With round two following right behind it.
From there, the battle then fell into a pattern for the next short while, each of us working as best we could to buy the time that Garr and the others needed to finish powering the ritual. Arriving at first in steady and somewhat predictable waves, the spirits came at us in en masse, consisting of anywhere from just a handful to over two dozen at a time. That particular tactic, while a little hectic at times when the larger waves appeared at all once, was one that gave us a brief chance to catch our breath afterward and regroup. It was during those short lulls that I rushed to contribute what mana I could to the ritual, the frequency that I was able to do so attracting more and more attention from the gronn in the process.
Attention that quickly morphed into outright shock when during a particularly intense wave I was forced to Blink Step across the clearing to grab a nimble monitor lizard spirit that had managed to sneak past all of us and was an arm’s length away from savaging Garr.
Catching the ethereal creature high on the chest with my free hand, I barely managed to keep its sweeping claws away from the druid who aided my efforts by flinching just out of range of its attack. It was that motion, however, that put him in the perfect position to see my hand sink into the spirit and witness the thick line of corruption course up my arm as I began to drain it. Hearing him gasp loudly as I dragged the now thrashing spirit away from him, I wasted no time in putting an end to it, slashing Splinter through it repeatedly until it unraveled itself in a spray of shadows. As it did, I heard Garr let out strained croak from behind me, a part of me already knowing what he was going say.
“How?” he demanded, the single word all that he was able to get out while maintaining the ritual’s magic, his eyes growing even wider as the corruption staining my hand and arm rapidly began to fade away.
“That’s…a long story,” I replied to the man as I spared a quick glance towards the clearing and saw that the others had finally managed to get the remaining spirits under control. The pause was just long enough for the remainder of the corruption to fade from me before I rejoined the ritual, extending my now unblemished hand towards the orb above. A hand that I noticed Garr flick his eyes towards, staring at it with wonder. “And I will tell you everything once we’re done here.”
“Yes,” Garr answered back with a serious expression on his face as he shifted his eyes back towards mine, managing to give me a curt nod in response to my words. “You…most certainly…will.”
Returning the gronn’s nod with one my own, I tore my gaze away from him and back onto the now brilliant orb above as I contributed half of my total mana pool to the spell, feeling my hunger rise up once more in response. As I did, I took the opportunity to glance at the ritual’s mana counter that hung in the corner of my vision, looking to see how much progress we’d made so far.
Total Ritual Mana Contributed: 100,253/150,000
Looking good. Just over two-thirds of the way there, I noted as I once more dropped out of the spell and turned to rush back out of the circle, surprised to see that another wave of corrupted spirits was already bearing down on us despite there still being some from the previous wave still standing.
“Damn it, it looks like they’re starting to come faster now!” I called out as I rushed towards the closest group of spirits, a part of my mind realizing that we must have hit some sort of threshold in the battle’s progress. “Hal! Caius! I think we’re going to need some extra help again for this wave!”
“We see it too, Lyr!” Caius’s voice called back barely a second after I finished speaking, his words accompanied closely behind by a bright flash of magic. “Just give us a second to finish chugging a couple potions and we’ll jump in!”
“Works for me! And call for he
lp if you need me!” I shouted back to the warlock, managing to just get my reply out before I ran headlong into the group of spirits that I’d been sprinting towards. As a result, I was forced to miss any further reply that he might have had for me, my attention abruptly taken over by a set of two wolf and two spider spirits.
Charging into the group at speed, I lead with a blaze of fire, stretching my free hand out as I cast Flameburst, bathing the four sprits in a short-lived inferno. Taking advantage of the billowing cloud of ash that lingered after the spell faded, I followed the attack with a wide, sweeping cleave with Splinter, the jagged blade managing to catch three of the spirits in the process. The fourth, unfortunately for me, had the sense to not stay put with its other companions, instead choosing to leap forward through the ash.
“Ah! Shit, spider!” I shouted as the eight-legged spirit suddenly appeared in the center of my vision, a desperate dodge to the side allowing it to sail by just past me. But not without a pair of its ethereal legs hitting me square in the shoulder and phasing straight through me. Hissing loudly in response to the pain, nausea, and loss of mana as the attack landed, I did my best to adjust to the spirit’s new position on my flank, choosing to dart to the side and out of combat entirely before I found myself swarmed.
Which was fortunately at the same instant that Amaranth arrived to aid me.
Blinking into existence with a flash of magic, the cat suddenly appeared from elsewhere on the battlefield to slash a glowing set of claws into the spider that had attacked me. But no sooner did he finish the swipe did he follow it up with another, sending his own arc of burning flames to sear the group of spirits.
I replied to the cat, a quick glance to my side allowing me to catch sight of yet another wave of black shadows rush into the clearing, making a beeline towards both Cassius and Kilgore. But that simple glimpse was all that I was able to manage before I was forced to turn my attention back towards the spirits I was already fighting, slashing Splinter at one of the wolves who tried to take advantage of my distraction.
Leading by example as I finished speaking, I channeled what remained of my mana into a second Flameburst spell, managing to once again sear the now wavering group of corrupted spirits. From there, Amaranth and I both rushed through the ash and into their ranks, his claws and my sword flashing repeatedly as we attacked without mercy. Overwhelmed by the sudden turn of the battle and Amaranth’s arrival, the ethereal animals had little answer for our assault, their ghostly figures bleeding energy with every blow we landed. As we attacked, I also didn’t forget what I needed most from the creatures, making sure that I drained what I could from them in order to restore my now dangerously low mana pool.
“There,” I grunted a short time later as the last spirit finally fell apart into a cloud of smokey shadows, what little that remained of its essence flowing directly into the hand that I’d thrust into it. “That’s the last one, now we can—”
“Shit! Hey, Lyr! We could really use that help you offered right now about!” Caius’s loud voice interrupted me as it boomed over the battlefield, its tone suddenly becoming urgent as a thunderous blast of magic split the air. “Guys, look out! More incoming on the right!”
Twisting before the warlock could finish speaking, I turned in time to see a blazing column of fire erupt on the far end of the clearing, its sheer intensity causing me to squint. Lasting for a second before beginning to fade, it was then that I saw what had prompted the dark elf to call out, the spell’s light illuminating yet another arriving wave of corrupted spirits that surged out of the garden.
Its path taking them directly into Kilgore and Cassius.
“Oh, damn it, I’m coming!” I cursed as I saw the two fighters vanish from under the combined weight of the spirits as they swarmed over the pair, the already chaotic battle losing what little organization that it still had. Realizing that we only had a short time before the spirits killed them, I didn’t waste another second in triggering Blink Step, sending a quick mental message to Amaranth as did so.
Which was fine by me since it made my next move all the easier.
Calling up the power of the Ring of Force that I’d found the previous day, I slammed my left hand into the dirt beneath me, knuckles first, the impact triggering its stored energy. Unleashing itself in a burst, I felt a wave of force pulse out from all around me, the magic sending all of the nearby spirits flying away, breaking the cloud of darkness that I’d fallen into. As it did, I was able to spot both Kilgore and Cassius a few feet away from me, the pair staggering as the wave of force washed over them too. But where the magic caused the smaller, and more insubstantial, spirits to be sent spiraling through the air, the two men were only momentarily knocked off-balance and recovered quickly.
“Shit, thanks for that, Lyrian!” Cassius shouted, a look of relief crossing his face as he saw me. “We thought we were goners!”
“We still might be!” I replied in an urgent tone as I forced myself back to my feet, doing my best to ignore the thick black streak of corruption that I saw now covered the better part of the man’s face. Instead, I turned my attention back into the clearing, seeing that the swarm of corrupted spirits that I’d dispersed was starting to reorganize itself. “We need to fall back closer to the circle before they hit us again! Come on!”
Not needing any more encouragement than my words already offered, the three of us began to run back towards the ritual circle, Amaranth joining us mid-stride with a flash of magic. But as we moved, so too did all the spirits around us, forcing us to slash and cut a path through them. Fortunately, we weren’t alone in that effort, with both Caius and Halcyon sending a storm of deadly magic into the spirits and scattering them before they could catch us.
“I don’t know about you guys, but this is starting to get a bit too hot to handle!” Halcyon called out as we finally regrouped with them just shy of the ritual circle’s edge, all of us promptly turning around to fight the spirits chasing us. “Constantine, Berwyn, Theia, and Arcturus are barely keeping up with things on the other side of the circle, and I just downed my last mana potion! I’m going to be down to party tricks in about ten seconds!”
“I have two left of mine that you can use!” I replied back to the mage as I swung Splinter in a wide, cleaving slash through a pair of spirits, following it up with yet another cast of Flameburst, the area of effect spell having become my favorite to use this battle. “How much is left till the ritual is powered?”
“Just shy of thirty thousand!” Caius answered. “Which at our current rate is somewhere between three and four minutes before it’s done!”
“I’m not sure that I have two minutes left in me, let alone three!” Cassius wheezed back in a weary voice. “I just hit stage two on the corruption counter, and it’s all I can do to stay standing right now. Is there anything we can do to speed things up?”
“Only if you guys can manage without any casters for those two minutes!” Halcyon countered back, a bright fireball sailing over our heads as he spoke, the
bright orange orb detonating itself amid the spirits ahead of us and partially clearing them out. “Okay, Lyr! I need those potions! I’m tapped out!”
“I have them here!” I replied back to the mage, my hand already reaching into my belt pouch as I was speaking and drawing out the two mana vials that I had remaining. Once they were in hand, all I had to was twist slightly and hold them out behind me, Halcyon grabbing the potions a second later. “And I have to agree with Cassius, two minutes without you guys isn’t going to work! We need your magic to keep them away!”
“Then you’re going to have to either figure out how to get more mana to speed the ritual up or call on the other gronn to help us buy more time!” I heard him exclaim as I shifted back towards the battle, the spirits relentlessly surging forward once again. “Because unless you have another idea, I don’t know what else we can do!”
“Well, I do have one idea!” I called back to the mage as I slashed Splinter through a snake spirit before lunging forward to grab hold of it by the throat with my free hand. “But it really sucks!”
“Okay, but does it suck more than us being overrun and this ritual going to shit?” Halcyon asked, a bolt of lightning lancing through a group of spirits signaling his return to the battle. “Because right now that’s my bar for success.”
“Well, when you put it that way. I guess no. It does not,” I replied in a dry tone as I finished draining all the energy that the snake spirit had to offer for me, the ethereal creature dissolving in my grip.
“Then whatever it is, do it!” Halcyon exclaimed urgently. “Because I just burned through your first potion and this second one isn’t going to last much longer!”
“Okay, take my spot then!” I told the mage, glancing over my shoulder to see that he was only a few steps behind me. “Because I’m going in!”
“Sure—wait, going in?” He replied, surprise coloring his voice as I stepped out of my spot between Cassius and Amaranth. “Where exactly are you going into?”
Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) Page 60