Lanek burst into motion, forcing the Warden to keep its attention focused straight ahead. The monster bellowed angrily when the chain whip lashed out and scored a slash across its face, jerking its head back to protect its eyes. Taking advantage of the Warden’s evasive maneuver, Ograch fired an arrow at its unarmored throat. However, one of the specters whispering into the Warden’s ear snapped its face toward the arrow and hissed. At this sound, the Warden’s shield moved up into the arrow’s path, deflecting it easily.
Once Lanek was in range, he set to work weaving his saber around the monster’s guard, inflicting minor wounds on those parts of the creature’s body that were left uncovered by its damaged and rusted armor. He smiled at the sight of recent damage to the armor, clearly having been caused by his salvos.
Meanwhile, Liv and the giant bear moved in on one flank while Kazuma and Sanguineus charged on the other, the cat staying nearby to cover Sanguineus and himself in mist. With this cover in place, Sanguineus received a double boost to his attack speed, once from being out of direct light and another from being within range of Lanek’s aura.
With lightning speed, Sanguineus tore at the Warden’s armor, tearing chunks of the rusted metal away with his jaws. With the Warden distracted by those attacks, Kazuma’s innate ability triggered as well, his claws causing lightning damage with his first strike. The Warden started to turn toward the animals in a rage but stiffened when Liv charged forward and struck hard with her spear, hoping to pierce a kidney despite the armor. Her spear struck true, passing through the armor. Liv activated one of her abilities, causing the spear to be covered in ice, slowing the Warden down.
The Warden, never fast to begin with, now found himself at a greater disadvantage. Suddenly, the party moved back, confusing the Warden and his torturers. However, this confusion was short-lived as a roar sounded from behind him just before a 1,000 kg of bear reared up and slammed its paws into him. The cursed monster was thrown from his feet and bounced along the ground before skidding to a stop several meters away, struggling to stand.
The group began to close in, aside from Ograch who just continued to fire arrows into every gap in the monster’s armor. As they closed in, the monster surprised them all by surging to its feet and swinging its blade toward Lanek and attempting to bash the cave bear with his shield. Lanek easily dodged the blade, ducking under the swing. He sliced through the exposed flesh of the Warden’s wrist, trying to force him to drop the blade but failing to carve through enough muscle and tendon to do so.
On the other side of the monster, the cave bear stopped the shield bash with its paws, hooking her claws into either side and immobilizing it. The Warden’s head turned toward her in surprise, as if shocked that anyone there could contend with his strength. He strained to pull the shield away, but could not overpower the bear.
A sharp hissing sound accompanied a specter rushing from the cage on the Warden’s back and up his arm toward the shield. As it crested the top of the shield, it smiled sadistically and prepared to swing its cruelly sharp claws at the bear’s face. It never got the chance to complete the attack.
Sanguineus’ Vessel shot through the air and pierced the specter, causing it to screech in pain and surprise at the damage inflicted upon it. It had never faced a foe that could actually affect it, much less hurt it, but now it got to experience the full impact of Lanek’s [Etheric Presence]. The screech abruptly ended as the specter burst apart in a flash of light.
Seeing it disappear, Lanek stepped back and ordered his animal companions to keep the Warden’s sword away from the cave bear before attempting to get behind the monster. Ograch, seeing Lanek’s movements, picked up the pace of his firing, focusing on the Warden’s face while ordering Reaver to charge in and help Kazuma and Sanguineus protect the bear from the blade. With so many distractions swirling around him, the Warden didn’t even notice Liv’s approach until the rim of her shield caught his elbow, weakening his shield arm enough for the bear to wrench it to the side. Liv capitalized instantly, spear stabbing deep into the Warden’s armpit.
Stolen novel; please report.
Once behind the Warden, Lanek became a blur of motion after having sheathed his sabre and began launching throwing daggers with his free hand as his whip lashed out. Each strike was aimed squarely at the cage on the Warden’s back. Every whip strike and thrown dagger caused the blue mist to fade and a screech to erupt from another specter being destroyed. With every specter destroyed, the Warden seemed to pause as if their destruction was stunning him.
Despite the damage being caused, the Warden still refused to fall, finally finding a moment to strike with his sword. However, he was once again interrupted as Reaver’s jaws snapped close on his forearm as she slashed away with her forelimbs. Bellowing at yet another foe landing a strike, the Warden raised his arm and tried to throw the raptor off, not realizing his folly until the raptor's back feet left the ground and began kicking with her razor sharp claws at his chest and stomach. If he had not been wearing armor, Reaver would have disemboweled him with ease. Regardless, she still left numerous deep gashes in his torso when her claws tore into weak points in his damaged armor, causing its already damaged defenses to become even more tattered. This, in turn, led to yet more of her kicks causing devastating damage.
Seeing their opportunity, Sanguineus and Kazuma made their move. Sanguineus went low while Kazuma went high in their assault on the monster. Sanguineus threw his body at the Warden’s knees, using his weight and strength to keep him off balance. At the same time, Kazuma kicked off of Sanguineus’ back, his furry form launching onto the Warden’s back, just above the cage. The cat’s jaws closed on the back of the Warden’s neck, trying to sever his spine even as Kazuma used his front paws to wrap around the creature’s neck and tear open its throat with his claws.
Becoming desperate, the monster bellowed once more, suddenly turning a pale blue as a deathly chill spread out from him, many times worse than the cold of the prison. The cold air slowed his assailants even as ice formed on his body, creating a layer of armor. Finding herself unable to maintain her grip on his shield, the cave bear felt it slip from her grasp before it came back and bashed into her face, knocking her onto her back.
Kazuma leapt off, avoiding a pair of specters that rushed out of the cage and climbed to the Warden’s shoulders. Before Reaver could react and with her mouth feeling so numb that it was becoming difficult to hang on, the Warden knelt swiftly and slammed his arm into the ground, knocking the raptor free and sending her into unconsciousness. However, Ograch could tell that his raptor was hurt, but not dead. Instead of giving in to worry and panic, the hobgoblin redoubled his efforts, firing arrow after arrow to keep the monster from finishing off the unconscious raptor.
The Warden kicked out at Sanguineus, narrowly missing the wolf before he turned to Lanek, twin specters glaring at the man who had destroyed many of their number from the Warden’s shoulders. Sanguineus and Kazuma, seeming of one mind, chose to return to their vessels and empower Lanek for the coming fight. However, they were surprised to feel through their bond that he wasn’t all that concerned.
The monster stalked forward, the specters on its shoulders leering at Lanek, perhaps thinking that he had frozen in fear at how quickly the tide had turned. While it approached, Lanek kept watching it, biding his time. He waited for Yuri to pull Reaver to safety and gestured for Ograch to cease firing, wanting the Warden to focus entirely on him.
This wasn’t hard to accomplish as the specters and the Warden were seething with hate at the sight of the dranrid. Not only had he dared to destroy its lair, but he had also had the audacity to eliminate dozens of the specters, stopping them from satisfying their eternal need for vengeance on the Warden.
Seconds later, Lanek grinned at the monster as the cave bear crashed into it once more and a spear burst from the Warden’s chest, having pierced the cage and its blue mist. As the cold aura faded and the monster slumped to its knees, Liv stared down at it from the cave bear’s back in contempt before spitting on the corpse.
“Your cold ain’t shit.”