Chapter 61 Lenna And The Fish
“If you didn’t have their attention before, you have it now.” Fable called over his shoulder as the entire cavern of Ori-Masa reoriented back on Isaac and then readied to charge. “Brace!”
All of the Ori-Masa in the cavern save for the mushroomancer redoubled their charge. “Darkness!” Fina called from her position next to Lenna. “I am going to run out of mana if this keeps up!” She punctuated it by scattering another dozen streaking embers into the Ori-Masa ranks.
“Fire wall!” Isaac called and pushed the little dragon off of him. Fina did as instructed and the entire team stepped back as a wall of dancing flames formed between them and the encroaching horde. Isaac hopped to his feet and then looked down at the little dragon. Isaac grinned as he had an idea. Kahtesh looked at him expectantly like he was awaiting his orders or begging for a treat. Isaac still had his boost active so he easily reached down and grabbed the dragon by the base of his wings before hoisting him above his head. He turned so the dragon was facing towards the horde and then pressed Kahtesh’s feet against the ceiling. The dragon’s claws bit into the stone above them. Two of his feet had to try multiple times to get proper purchase but in the span of a few seconds there was an automatic lightning bolt cannon hanging above their heads. “Have fun.” Isaac told his dragon with a wink.
“What in all the hells?” Esk questioned when he looked back to see what Isaac was up to.
“Fina, drop the wall.” Isaac ordered. Fina did as she was told and stepped back out of the way as Isaac retook his spot next to Lenna. Isaac let his boost fade at the same time so it would be harder for the monsters to pinpoint which one of them was the supposed feast.
“Thanks.” Fina told Isaac as the flames on her sword winked out and she was able to take in the entire situation again.
Where Fina’s wall had once been, a scorched line of ash and brittle bones remained. The scent of cooked river fish fought to overpower the general scent of red blood that pervaded the area. “I take it-” Thunder rolled from Kahtesh firing a lightning bolt into the crowd of enemies in the general direction of the mushroomancer. “-e commander isn’t an option!” Esk called from the other side of their battle line.
“No!” Isaac called back. “Damn thing is almost as immortal as me!” Kahtesh’s thunder rolled out again. Isaac dropped his voice low. “Maybe more so.” He said quietly to Lenna.
“What’s the plan then?!” Esk questioned. “We are going to get overrun eventually!”
“Get good!” Isaac replied as he continued cutting down Ori-Masa after Ori-Masa.
“What does that-” Kahtesh’s thunder cut off Esk’s question again while he was still fighting for his life against the seemingly endless horde.
“It means,” Mark began. “just don’t get overrun.” His statement was punctuated by Kahtesh. The little dragon was exclusively firing the lightning bolts in a straight line towards where the mushroomancer used to be. This was actually helping Mark as the enemies directly in front of him kept getting electrocuted so he wasn’t going to start complaining about the thunder rolls coming from just above and behind his head. As long as Kahtesh didn’t hit him he would be happy.
Kahtesh’s thunder rolled again. “-time I go to speak?!” Esk demanded an answer to an unheard question from the dragon. “This is getting ridiculo-” Esk’s face now wore a permanent frown as he began fighting in silence. It seemed like Kahtesh didn’t want him to get a single full sentence out.
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“He’s right.” Fable said in a voice that seemed to carry across and over the sounds of conflict without needing to be yelled. “Just hold the line. They will run out of reinforcements eventually.” Kahtesh seemed to wait until Fable was done to fire his next lightning bolt which just made Esk scowl harder.
“Kahtesh, be nice.” Isaac told the dragon loud enough for everyone to hear. “If you feel like you are getting overrun, say so!” Isaac ordered the group. “We can drop back and switch to a four man frontline if we have to!”
Isaac received a round of acknowledgement from the group but no one took the offer, yet. They continued on for minute after minute as Ori-Masa after Ori-Masa fell. Every minute, on the dot, Fina would clear the space in front of them with a Wall of Flames for a few seconds to keep the biomass down. This served two purposes. The first was to lessen the available resources for the mushroomancer to feed upon. The second was just in case, after the commander died, the mushrooms didn’t all go inert. If the corpses from the entire battle started to roll up in one massive apocalypse monster of roiling flesh, bone, and blood then they wanted as few bodies left over as possible.
Body after body fell and burned away. Spell after spell was thrown into the relentless horde. Slash after slash cut through vital points. Lightning bolt after lightning bolt fried fishman after fishman. By the fifth solid minute of fighting the group had dropped back to the thinnest choke point in the tunnel. Lenna stood in the center, fighting with spite and aura alone, she had long run out of mana. Fable was on her left, the blue glow from the spell cast on his longsword was starting to dim, as even his magical arm began to run out of mana. Isaac was completely normal more or less. Kahtesh was in front of the group, still hanging on the ceiling, without a scratch on him. The Ori-Masa only seemed to care about the consumable biomass in front of them. The ‘little dragon that tried’ did not appear to be as appetizing as the elves, humans, and half elves in front of them.
“They are starting to thin.” Lenna enlightened the two people flanking her. One was her mate and the other her mortal enemy.
“Ready!” Isaac called out to get the entire group’s attention. “Counter push in ten! Nine! Eight!” He continued counting down as he heard the rest of the team properly fall in behind him, Lenna, and Fable. “Six! Five! Four!” Isaac fed Lenna just a little more death flames than he had been just in case a stray attack got through her armor. The Ori-Masa stopped charging and started running away from them. “One!” Isaac finished and the group counter charged.
They ran through ash and blood, bone and body. They charged through the few Ori-Masa who couldn’t get out of the way in time. They easily broke through the Ori-Masa line and charged towards the mushroomancer. The middle of the cavern was open and clear of Ori-Masa. Another hundred or so Ori-Masa lined the walls of the cavern and watched them with focused eyes. The mushroomancer squared off against the party leaving a gap of seventy feet between them. His mycelium reached across the entire cavern and connected him to all of the Ori-Masa lining the walls.
“He wants a proper fight after all that?!” Esk yelled in exasperation.
“Fina, can you cast Wall of Flames again?” Isaac questioned only a little louder than a whisper.
“For a few seconds, ten tops.” Fina replied.
“Esk, give Lenna your sword. Lenna, challenge the fish to mortal combat.” Isaac instructed.
“What?” Esk questioned. He sounded heartbroken at the idea. Lenna stowed her sword and walked over to Esk. She held out her hand and he begrudgingly bestowed it upon her. “I better get this back.” He grumbled.
Lenna gave him a curt nod and turned to face the mushroomancer. She took two steps forwards so she was a whole step in front of the rest of the party and pointed her sword at her opponent. “Everyone step back and lower your weapons, don’t drop them.” Isaac whispered and did as he himself directed. The rest of the group followed suit. “As soon as you can surround Lenna and the fish with a Wall of Flames, do it.” Isaac instructed the sorceress.
“Ready.” Fina replied.
Lenna slashed at the air twice before she started striding towards the mushroomancer. It was then that everyone seemed to notice one of the entryways to the cavern that they were in. That new tunnel was releasing a soft blue glow. A blue glow from countless mushrooms. It was the border to the mushroom kingdom and right there in the entryway was a mushroom soldier unlike any, any of those present, had ever seen.
The mushroom soldier was far more humanoid than they usually were. It was seven feet tall and lanky with long sharp claws on both its hands and feet. It’s face had one eye that took up the entire front of its head. It took in the scene in total passiveness. It was waiting for something though no one knew what. Maybe it was waiting for the mushroomancer to make a move into their territory, maybe it was waiting for the mushroomancer to die so it could extend the kingdom’s territory a bit farther, maybe it had been conversing with the mushroomancer before the adventurers arrived and it was simply waiting for the mushroomancer to finish, or maybe it was waiting for the perfect time to make a move and kill everyone present.
It was too late now for Lenna to back down from her challenge of the mushroomancer so she rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck before getting ready to launch into a sprint at her target. The Ori-Masa mushroomancer lowered his staff at her in preparation to cast his first spell. Everyone present, human, elf, or otherwise, knew in their gut that the following engagement would be anything but straightforward. Only time would tell why.