Chapter 38

I was worried that these people would be weak, untested, throwing themselves at the enemy in a disorganized mob, that I’d be forced to endanger myself just to keep them from dying. I imagined I’d have to try and shout orders, rally them, get them to work together smarter, to protect each other with their skills.

As it turned out, I needn’t have worried; instead, I felt like the odd man out as they quickly shook out into clearly premade parties, the air crackling with magic as spells enwrapped them. It was easy to see what effect some had; a few growing stronger, visibly rippling with muscles. A handful began to make small back-and-forth movements, moving with unnatural speed. I wasn’t sure what effect the man with the marching drum would have, but when he began to beat a staccato rhythm on his drum, it felt like a steady tide pulling me forward, an inexorable force that drew them together into a quick march.

I hung at the fringes of their formation, trying to figure out what various aspects of it were meant to do; the party seemed arranged in a specific pattern, shaped like the veins of a leaf; the drummer and his pair of guards at the stem, a party of clearly casters before them, and the dexterity-boosted group at the tip of the leaf, Cenna and Lyrella with them, with the other, more mixed-purpose parties branching out along the edges. There was a man dressed in robes but wielding a spear, another man in full plate with a staff held out before him, wreathed in crackling lightning, another wearing light leather armor but bearing a huge greataxe over their shoulder. I was half-stunned by the huge array of different ways peoples’ power had manifested, the branching choices they’d taken from such simple beginnings as three Paths.

My reverie was cut short, however, as the formation stopped, the sides spreading into a broad crescent-shape, inner surface pointed toward the massive serpent. The drummer changed his rhythm to a low, heavy pounding, echoing in my chest like thundering hooves, like a cavalry charge. The group of casters drew their power together in what was clearly a practiced maneuver, two of them pouring conflicting energies together into a container summoned by one of the others, the clear cage of force concentrating the warring ice and lightning. A fourth caster sketched out runes in the air, each lingering as a phantasm of energy in the wake of his movements, before thrusting his fist forward.

The battle began with the cage of force barreling toward the serpent like a slug from a railgun, blasting apart branches that barred its’ path, and slamming into the serpent’s side with an enormous bang. Despite its’ immense bulk, the serpent wavered, huge chunks falling away from a segment of its’ hide near the head. The crescent launched forward, remaining a coherent edge as they approached. Lyrella and her vanguard charged toward the head, leaving the rest of their formation behind as they drew the beasts’ attention. Lyrella paused every few dozen feet to tear up and launch a chunk of stone at the enormous beast, throwing with the force of a small catapult. While the head swiveled to regard them, the others moved for various points along the flank, peppering the hide with what was clearly an experimental barrage, trying to see what did or didn’t work.

I stared upward at the enormous head as it reared up, maw opening to give a terrible, roaring hiss that shook branches and made trunks tremble; Lyrella’s vanguard quickly scattered as soon as it prepared to counterattack. I could see the way energy threaded along its’ body, enormous knots of shining green that pulsed through it like a river. I saw the darker traces wrapped around its’ skull, shining through its’ eyes.

I shook off my reverie, and pumped fire into my muscles, filling myself with boundless energy. I found that every step matched the beats of the drum, every movement carrying me farther than it should’ve, even the discomfort edging my Haste spell muted by the pressure of the song. I sprinted forward through the groups of my allies, drawing in a deep breath as I channeled energy into my hands and surrounding them in fitful gouts of blistering flames. I pushed so much energy into them that I felt it began to shiver and slip from between my fingers, too much energy to be contained. I launched myself upward with an enormous leap, and brought my hands together, slamming them down in a hammerblow against the serpent’s dense hide. I felt the cracks radiating out beneath my hands, the shell splintering under the hit, but the damage didn’t seem significant against the bulk of the snake.

When it lurched into motion, I was thrown from my feet, the smooth hide offering no purchase as it rolled its’ body, the head diving down after someone whose form was cloaked in the trees that surrounded us. Everywhere it turned, its' targets scattered, reforming as soon as another group had distracted it with attacks. Their back-and-forth assaults seemed effective against the beasts’ concentrated attacks, keeping the head swaying back and forth, unable to decisively engage anywhere.

The serpent seemed enraged by their antics, and finally settled on the group of casters near the drummer, hammering down at them in a relentless series of attacks, shattering trees and uprooting bushes with every strike, tearing away at their cover and protection. Even my own javelin-shaped darts failed to draw its’ attention away despite the penetrating, smoking wounds they left. I could see the head descending in a rapid series of bites and lunges, clearly pursuing the same person, the rapid attacks breaking a clearing. I could see the ice mage frantically summoning walls and spears of ice to try and deflect the attacking head, chipping away at the hide and exposing more of the bleached bone beneath. Its’ mouth opened wide as it chomped down onto a tree, that familiar woodchipper sound heralding its’ shotgun-like spitting attack. Its’ mouth opened wide, preparing to shoot, only to be forcibly redirected by a human meteor slamming into its’ jaw. I could see the Force Mage standing nearby, his power propelling Lyrella forward with crushing force. She struck with a sound like a car crash, the impact swiping its’ head aside to shower a barren stretch of forest with the yard-long splinters.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The endless barrage of attacks seemed to be having an effect, whole sections of its’ hide sloughing away, huge plates of stone-like leather breaking off and falling to the ground with bone-crushing force; I saw a pair of fighters, the leading edge of one of the groups, be smashed underneath a falling piece of the body they’d chipped away with massive hammers. Some distance away, an archer wasn’t fast enough to take cover from another shotgun-like scatter of splinters, impaled through and through by half a dozen spears; his team fared only somewhat better, the trees and their armor sheltering them from the attack, only suffering a couple of hits apiece. The tide of the battle was slowly turning against us, though it was unclear which side was truly winning.

I could hear the drummer’s beat change, a formless thunder that somehow matched my steps – or perhaps matched my steps to it – and punctuated their attacks with single immense strikes, every attack seeming to fly out at once. The concentrated damage was enough to drive it back a short ways, the drumbeats seeming to predict its’ movements, wordless commands that united them into a single force. The body thrashed, tail swiping away a dozen trees in a single movement, the torso rolling to crush more beneath itself, tearing away what limited protection the forest provided them. I tried to join in as best that I could, but it was clear to me that they had trained together, their combined strength far in excess of my own.

But only as long as they remained coherent.

Seeming to sense the uniting force of the drum, the serpent turned its’ head to attack him, launching bites and spitting attacks in a relentless storm, forcing the others to move to his defense, concentrating against its’ assault. Only too late did I put it together, realize that he was forcing them together; he wanted them concentrated.

The only warning that I had was seeing a thick ripple of dense, dark energy release from around its’ midpoint, a nearly-visible roll of darkness that flitted beneath the verdant sheen of the hide’s nature magic. It was only in places where the hide had fallen away that I could see the nature of the attack.

I charged toward the gathered warriors, and shouted, “Run! Run!” The head reared up, mouth opening in another hiss, this one bubbling and retching from within as its’ throat distended under the force of the attack. I pushed my hands forward, channeling energy without intent, a storm of flames pushing upward to counter the attack I knew was coming; a torrent of dark, bilious fluid, somewhere between a cloud and a geyser, that simply washed over and around them, crushing through trees in a tsunami of disgusting magic. My fires could only keep a small swathe at bay, the roiling steam tinted black by the fell magic invested in the serpent’s enormous attack.

Where it struck, I could see plants liquefying, trees collapsing under their own rotting bulk; my allies fared little better, many of them only discovering too late that the flood of filth would simply go around any barriers, their disciplined shield-walls useless in the face of the torrent of darkness.

The handful of those who stood behind me were sheltered from the attack, the Force Mage’s barrier reinforcing my own as I struggled against the brief, but powerful attack. The disciplined assault came apart as nearly a dozen of their members fell in an instant, more than half of the group dead or badly wounded. Even Lyrella’s frantic shouting couldn’t keep them together, fleeing pell-mell into the trees, away from the Guardian itself.

I dropped my shield of flames just in time to see the descending head of the serpent, a wordless shout of warning all I could muster before throwing myself aside, only my augmented speed allowing me to escape unharmed; the others were smashed aside, only one hit directly; the Force mage was crushed between jawbone and dirt, limp and shattered under the direct force of the attack.

I hurled exploding fireballs at its’ head, blowing away chunks of the protective hide and starting small, smoldering fires around the edges of the wounds. Lyrella charged in, using the creature’s own bulk against it, moving in to dig her hands into the edges of wounds, tearing more of the hide away from the rotting flesh beneath. Cenna was a flicker of movement, visible here and there cutting deeper wounds before falling back to launch arrows unerringly into its’ eyes, throwing off the timing of its’ attacks.

The drumbeat finally fell silent as the drummer fled, dragging one limp leg behind him, an enormous splinter lodged in his thigh. The immense serpent twisted this way and that, spitting small showers of splinters or smashing its’ head or tail toward the handful of attackers that remained, only the most disciplined still in the fight.

I paused for an instant, perched in the branches of a tree, staring intently at the flowing magic within the body of the Serpent. There had to be a way to defeat it, some kind of weakness to exploit; my eyes kept being drawn, over and over again, to the thick rope of dark energy that wound up its’ body, using the spine as a bony highway, magic pulsing up and down its’ length in thrashing waves.

I bit my lip in thought for a couple of seconds, before throwing myself out of the tree to avoid an attack, as inspiration struck me. I left behind embers as I moved, starting up a small fire everywhere I moved. The others instinctively moved away, unwilling to be trapped between the flames and the serpent. I crossed back and forth, spreading the flames wider, pouring my energy out into them to make the fires grow faster.