With just enough time for my eyes to widen before I was forced to act, I saw three dark appendages leap out from the warlord’s shadow, forcing me to simultaneously dodge one tendril while meeting another with a hard parry. Connecting solidly with the shadow, I instantly felt like I had tried to block a two-handed swing from Zhul’s massive axe, my arm buckling at first under the shadow’s strength. Yet as soon as I began to drain mana from the attacking tendril, the pressure instantly vanished, allowing Savagery to cut straight through it as if it were paper. But despite my success in avoiding the first two attacks, there was nothing that I could do for the third, the shadow lancing out to stab me in the outer thigh with enough force to stagger me.
“Ah, shit!” I cursed as I belatedly swept my sword through the shadow, once again channeling my mana leech ability through the weapon and slicing through it, promptly causing the length that had been buried in my leg to dissipate.
Gritting my teeth from the pain, I readied myself from yet another attack from Zhul bringing Savagery upwards in a protective guard to defend against another shadowy assault. But as I did, however, I saw that his attention had finally been drawn away by the others who had rushed to attack the orc having finally recovered from his disorienting spell. Hitting him with several blasts of magic, I saw both Janus and Amaranth lead the way in attacking the warlord, with the two other spellswords rushing to attack him from the opposite flank. Focusing on the former pair, I saw them, bathe Zhul in fire and electricity as they closed before following up with claw and spear. Striking with obvious strength behind his blows, I saw Janus’s weapon blur as he attacked Zhul, the warlord spinning his axe in his grip to block the spear’s tip on its head. Lunging forward in sync with the other Spellsword’s assault, Amaranth moved to take advantage of Zhul’s distraction and struck at his hips and knees, looking to disrupt his balance. Yet as my familiar’s paws reached out to swipe at his body, I saw the cloak of shadows surrounding Zhul darken the same way they had when I attacked, forming into a tendril of shadow to block it.
And then immediately retaliating the same way it had to me.
Damn, we can’t even touch him without his shadow counterattacking us, I thought, managing to catch my breath before moving back in to attack Zhul, a seed of doubt starting to bloom in my mind. So far, the warlord had managed to fight all five of us to a standstill without breaking so much as a sweat, seemingly untouched by all the magic that Janus and Amaranth had just thrown at him. Granted it was still early in the fight and there was a chance that we might be able to break through his defenses if given enough time, but I wasn’t completely confident that we would get it.
My thoughts at that point were interrupted by the sensation of a heavy raindrop hitting me in the face as I slashed out at Zhul, Savagery once again being blocked by his cloak of shadow despite me draining all the mana I could as I made contact. This time, however, as I pulled back from my attack, I was able to cut down the retaliating tendrils before they could reach me, slicing through them just in time for another raindrop to splash against me, followed by another and another. This prompted me to glance briefly towards the storm-filled sky in time to see a fork of lightning arc across it. It was at that point then that I remembered my original purpose in leaping over to the siegebreaker, the duel with Carver and Zhul’s later intervention having distracted me.
We came here to kill the orc casters and see if we couldn’t bring down the shield for good, I recalled, barely even seeing the protective barrier above me. In fact, what little that I did see of the violet haze looked to be losing strength rapidly, large holes appearing in its coverage. Frowning at the sight, I wondered what exactly was happening with the shield, especially since none of us had interfered with the orcs channeling it. Adjusting position so I could better see around Zhul, I risked a quick glance in their direction in hopes of seeing just what they exactly where doing.
Only to have my heart abruptly miss a beat the moment I did.
Spotting the second group of heralds, I saw that the five that remained had broken away from the now fading orb that powered the shield around us and had moved to channel their own spells, causing dark shadows similar to those that surrounded Zhul to pour out from their bodies. But where the darkness he had summoned had simply melded with his existing armor, the ones that the heralds called wrapped themselves around their bodies, transforming themselves into vicious-looking creatures, not unlike the shadows we’d spent the last day fighting, only larger. Yet if that itself wasn’t enough to unnerve me, it was my eyes landing on Carver a few strides away from that pushed me over the edge. Channeling a torrent of dark magic as the other heralds did, the man was also using it to fuel some sort of transformation. But where the others’ magic called pure shadow from their bodies, Carver’s brought forth a thick tar slime, the black mass oozing to cover his body.
They’re all transforming too, I thought as my attention landed on the shaman, my earlier seed of doubt rapidly blooming into outright dread at the realization that we would soon have far more than just Zhul to deal with.
Something that I knew we wouldn’t be able to stand up to.
“We’re about to have incoming!” I shouted as a flash of movement caused me to pull my gaze away from Carver and back towards the heralds, letting me see that they’d finished their transformation ahead of him had begun to turn our way. But no sooner were those words out of my mouth did they launch themselves towards us, abandoning the glowing orb that they’d painstakingly recast, leaving it to slowly begin to fade. “Check that. We have incoming!”
Charging forward towards us with the same speed that Zhul did, the next thing I knew I was reeling away from a wall of claws descending down upon me, barely managing to cast Arcane Shield before they arrived. Forming just in time, the barrier of mana managed to blunt their attacks before they could overwhelm me as I abandoned my position on Zhul’s flank and leapt towards the others, sparks of power flaring from my shield each time they hit it. But as I moved towards the others for safety, so too did the heralds follow me, falling upon all of us as they swarmed around Zhul to attack.
“There’s too many of them!” Janus exclaimed as we fell into a rough line across the siegebreaker’s head, just barely having enough room to stand abreast, let alone dodge or maneuver properly across its increasing wet surface, the falling rain intensifying with every second that passed. “I think it’s time to beat feet, Lyrian! We can’t survive here—ah, shit, Tyrel!”
Flinching at the guild leader’s shout, I didn’t have to turn my head to know what had happened, feeling the spellsword’s death through both raid sense and seeing it firsthand in how Zhul and the other heralds abruptly surged forward against us. This forced me to bite down any reply that I might have had for the other man as we all retreated another step backward in a desperate attempt to shorten our line, surrendering what little space we had left. As we did, however, the siegebreaker picked that moment to suddenly pick up its pace, breaking into what passed for a sprint for the massive creature and further disrupting our already precarious balance.
“Now you see the true might of the Unshackled Horde, the might that has been sealed away for far too long,” I heard Zhul say as the abrupt change in momentum threw me forward into the herald, my Arcane Shield protecting me from one last sweeping set of claws before the magic empowering it reached its limit and the spell came to an end.
Fortunately, that was all that I needed to adjust to the change in motion beneath me and retaliate to the transformed orc’s attack with an abrupt casting of Cone of Cold. Exploding outwards from my palm, the magic bathed it with a burst of frost, instantly turning not only the water dripping from its body to ice but also the water directly beneath their feet. This in turn then prompted it to start to slip, their clawed feet unable to find purchase on the now-slick surface.
Taking immediate advantage of their flailing, I followed up my magical attack by stabbing out with Savagery, the tip of the sword finally finding a way through the
thick shadows and piercing deep into the herald’s chest. Eyes widening at my unexpected success in actually being able to pierce through the dark magic that the orc had armored itself with, I didn’t hesitate in following it up with a Shocking Touch, channeling it through the blade as I thrust it even deeper. Twisting in pain from both my attack and the magic coursing through it, the herald moved to swipe at me with one of its claws but promptly overbalanced itself as it did so, causing its feet to shoot out sideways from under it. Arms windmilling in panic, the orc then had no chance to save itself as it suddenly found itself sliding off the siegebreaker’s head and towards the ground below.
Well, scratch one at least, I said mentally as I watched the shadowy figure fall, silently thankful that I’d managed to pull my sword free before they’d taken it with them. But just as I started to reset my positioning and call out to Janus so that we could time the retreat that we desperately needed, a black blur suddenly rushed through the spot where the herald had been standing. Barely even seeing it before it slammed into me, I felt a powerful set of arms wrap themselves around my body and pull me straight off my feet as it continued to charge forward. Stunned from the unexpected attack, it took me a second to even realize what had happened, my mind snapping back into focus just in time to breathe in a lungful of rotting air and hear Carver’s discordant voice in my ear.
“I hope you haven’t forgotten about me, Lyrian,” he said in a sinister tone. “Because I don’t think we’re quite done with one another just yet.”
Then the next thing I knew, we were airborne.
Chapter 69
Letting out a surprised shout as I felt Carver’s powerful leap propel us up and off the siegebreaker, I instinctively moved to fight back against the man, attempting to bring my sword to bear. Yet as I tried to, I found that it was pinned in between us, the crushing embrace that he had enveloped me with trapping the blade flat against our bodies. Feeling my panic spike at the realization that I was defenseless and completely unable to see anything other than the sticky black tar that was Carver’s chest, I wracked my brain for something, anything, that I could do in order break his hold on me.
Oh, this is going to suck, I thought as a desperate idea snapped to mind, causing me to ready another of the spells that I’d traded Janus for. Feeling the magic rapidly build, I shoved as hard as I could against Carver with my free hand, triggering Concussive Blast the instant the spell was ready. Forming directly between us, the magic instantly detonated with a thunderous burst of power, the strength of which, while paling in comparison to my Ring of Force, was far more than enough to break the man’s hold on me.
As a side effect, it also sent us both spiraling through the air away from one another, wildly altering whatever trajectory that Carver had originally sent us on.
Feeling my stomach lurch as I spun head over heels, it was all that I could do to hold onto Savagery, vaguely hearing Amaranth shout something incomprehensible through my mind at the same instant that siegebreaker came into view, followed by Aldford’s palisade a second later. Eyes widening at the sight, I had just enough time to realize what I was seeing before my flight came to an abrupt end as I crash-landed on the ramparts, narrowly missing the wall’s edge by inches. Nearly managing to clear the platform as I then bounced and rolled, I was saved from going over its opposite end and falling to the ground behind it by virtue of the railing, or rather the sturdy post that caught me square in the chest and stopped me.
Ugh, I was right. That did suck, I thought with a groan as I tried to focus past the new layer of pain that now radiated through my body, the waves pulsing in tune with my rapid heartbeat. While the landing wasn’t the worst that I’d had to endure in my career as an adventurer, it was far from the most pleasant, leaving me with a score of new bruises as well as an aching head. But as I glanced towards my combat log, I was still relieved to see that I had a little under half my hit points left, which wasn’t too bad considering the punishment I’d taken. What the hell was Carver trying to do when he grabbed—oh shit, wait. The—
It was right at that point, just when my head cleared enough to remember about the siegebreaker, that it arrived with thunderous force.
Feeling it slam into the wall an instant before the deafening crack filled my ears, the next thing I knew was that I was moving again. This time, however, instead of being sent up into the air, it was gravity threatening to pull me down as the ramparts beneath me suddenly burst outwards, sending me rolling off its edge. Flailing as I fell, I barely managed to grab hold of a piece of the now dangling rampart while also managing to not to cut myself with Savagery, the blade having been in my hand all this time. Hanging from its edge as the palisade wall buckled inward, I found myself staring at a portion of the siegebreaker’s massive snout, having burst free of the wood little more than twenty feet away from me.
Shit, that was close! I thought with a wince as I felt the other spellsword that had joined me in my attack suddenly die, followed by Amaranth and Janus suddenly moving farther away from me, the pair either thrown clear from the impact or managing to flee in time with it. Whatever the case, however, I didn’t have the time to think about it as the siegebreaker forced itself heavily against the wall, causing it to shatter even further, the motion sending me flailing wildly from side to side. Fortunately, though, despite its best efforts, the wall managed to hold it at bay, Léandre’s craftsmanship keeping it from breaking through.
For now, at least, I added as the creature’s efforts caused my already precarious hold to weaken and rain shards of wood down at me, the sound of the wall cracking and splintering giving me all the encouragement that I needed to get moving—especially since I also knew Carver was lingering nearby, my brief encounter with him since he’d yanked me off the siegebreaker only serving to fuel my efforts. He can’t have gone far after I broke his hold on me, and I think it’s too much to hope that he ended up crushed by the siegebreaker. I wonder what his plan was anyway? Was he hoping to throw me in front of it before it hit? Or did he want to kill me himself?
Scrambling as fast as I could while the questions played through my mind, I was able to use the hanging debris from the palisade along with Savagery to climb towards the still intact portions of the ramparts, and soon, I was pulling myself back up onto stable ground. As I did, I started to hear the distant sound of shouting voices as people started to react to the siegebreaker’s attack, eventually spotting none other than Freya, Helix, and Abaddon as they raced towards me, cutting through a pair of dervishes on the ramparts. Feeling an intense surge of relief to see them as I rose to my feet, I opened my mouth to call out to them, only to have a panicked warning from Freya reach my ears first.
“Look out, Lyr!” she shouted in a desperate tone. “Behind you!”
Immediately flinching at her warning, I caught the scent of rotting meat a second before a shadow suddenly fell over me, followed by something heavy hitting me in the back. Knocked forward from the impact, I had just enough presence of mind to use my sudden momentum to throw myself into a roll, feeling something graze the back of my helmet in the process.
“Ugh, you always have a way of making things more difficult for yourself, Lyrian,” I heard Carver’s voice say from behind me as I somersaulted once across the creaking ramparts before leaping back up to my feet. “It’s a trait of yours that’s starting to get particularly annoying.”
“I think that’s a matter of perspective, Carver,” I replied to the man as I spun in the direction of his voice, “because from where I’m stand—”
I instantly felt my words die in my throat as I finished my turn and finally laid eyes on the thing that Carver had become after his transformation, the man wasting no in time in lunging forward and forcing me to defend against his claws as I processed my shock.
“What’s wrong, Lyrian?” Carver asked in a mocking tone as he attacked, cocking his head to the side as he noticed my surprise. “Do I have something on my face?”
Standing at just over seven feet
tall, Carver’s transformation had turned him into a bestial monstrosity seemingly formed entirely of pure corruption, his body emanating a putrid stench of rotting meat. Yet despite his towering height, his new form appeared almost too gaunt for its massive frame, the man’s claw-tipped arms and legs stretching out to unnatural proportions from a torso that seemed too small to support them. The combined effect gave him a lanky and almost skeletal appearance despite the fact that he was even larger than before. Completing his transformation was his familiar trademark set of jagged antlers set on top of a pale white elk skull, bright crimson eyes burning from within its sockets as they glared down at us with malice.
A wendigo, I thought as I stared, just barely keeping ahead of the monstrous entity that was now Carver as he swept his claws out towards me, a part of my mind recognizing its vague appearance. He transformed himself into a wendigo.
“Lyrian!” I heard Freya shout from almost immediately behind me, her voice breaking through my shock as I narrowly dodged one of his claws, the siegebreaker picking that instant to throw itself against the wall once again, sending it shaking and nearly causing me to lose my balance. “What the hell is that thing?”
“That thing is me, dear,” Carver replied in an oily tone slowing his attacks just enough so he could look past me, his body visibly tensing in preparation for movement. “I really do hope you haven’t forgotten about little old me after all this time. It’s been a long while since we last crossed paths.”
“C-Carver?” Freya answered with surprise as she finally fell in beside me, her spear lancing out to attack the man, only to have him unnaturally twist his body to evade it. “Th-that’s you?”
“So it is,” the man replied as he launched himself forward to attack both Freya and me, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that he was becoming rapidly outnumbered. “And I see you’ve brought a pair of the lizards with you, how nice! It’s been too long since we had a group of us together again.”
Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) Page 90