Chapter 96 Still Human?
Isaac fell from the air directly onto Jallen as the paladin started to try and withdraw himself from the wreckage of the wagon he had impacted. Isaac’s impact sent him back down into the crater of mushroom wood, cloth, and metal. Isaac grabbed Jallen by the breast plate with both hands and ripped him out of the crater and into the air with all of his strength and another primal roar of effort. The broken wagon beneath them shattered and Isaac’s boots punch boot shaped holes through the mix of materials. Isaac teleported into the air above Jallen right as the paladin started to slow to a stop at the zenith of his flight. Isaac grabbed onto the paladin’s helmet and planted his boots on the man’s pauldrons. He used his entire body to yank Jallen’s helmet off. The leather strap abruptly snapped and Isaac was tossed upwards with the helmet in hands and Jallen was forced downwards at an even faster rate.
The snap of Jallen’s helmet strap was accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, again. Jallen meteored towards the ground in a spin before he landed with a sickening crunch as dozens of his bones were broken at once. Jallen had landed on all fours and his elvish body had not been up to the challenge. He crumpled like a wasted draft of a love letter to the Reaper. Unfortunately the impact hadn’t been hard enough to kill him out right, otherwise there would have been an accompanying sound of breaking glass. Isaac teleported back down to the ground, once his momentum had been sufficiently defeated by gravity, and appeared next to Jallen as the last of the paladin’s mana reserves went dry while he tried to set his broken bones.
“I am going to show your men your corpse.” Isaac growled through the pain of the Ten Men potion trying to break his body apart. He felt like a dragon even though there was liquid fire burning through his veins. Jallen groaned and tried to move but Isaac could feel the man rapidly recovering. He had to have some kind of magic item assisting his healing and that was why it had taken so long for the man to run out of mana.
Isaac yanked Jallen into the air again, only ten feet up this time, and dropped down to the ground while rocking back to roll into a handstand. Instead of doing a handstand Isaac kicked Jallen with the most powerful upwards attack he had. Using his entire body, Isaac spun and shoved off the ground with his hands while delivering what was effectively a stomp to Jallen’s chest. The impact broke Isaac’s wrists but it also would have snapped Jallen’s neck if it weren’t for another use of whatever had been saving his life. Jallen was catapulted up into the air again while the sound of breaking glass rippled more across the waves of mana than those in the air. He had been sent on a trajectory that would take him a hundred feet or so closer to the battle lines.
Isaac teleported under Jallen while he was still flying in an upwards direction. He assisted the paladin’s flight with another upwards kick to allow his wrists the second it took to make sure that they were completely healed. He teleported under Jallen again and used all of the momentum he had just given himself to punch straight up, from his slightly tilted perspective, into Jallen’s spinning body. He teleported and kicked again before teleporting and punching again. The sound of his iron strong fist and Jallen’s armored form rang out again and again until they covered three quarters of the distance to the battle line. Isaac let Jallen’s momentum take him the rest of the way until the paladin started to fall but, by that point, Jallen was almost at the ceiling of the cavern.
—
The battle had maintained its standstill as the sound of Jallen being tossed around like a child’s ball continued to ring out across the cavern. The civilians inside of the city had no idea what was causing the sounds but the fear of whatever monster it could’ve been washed through them in waves. Both sides of the battlefield looked to the ceiling of the cavern as they watched a small object get hit by another one again and again in their direction. “What is that?” Macken whispered. Lenna squinted her eyes but it was hard for her to see exactly what was happening at that distance and at that speed.
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“Jallen V’Nova getting chain tossed.” Fable replied. He had a spyglass out and was observing the insanity going on in the air above them.
“Like what a flock of wyverns does to a stone turtle?” Esk asked in shock and horror. Wyverns were known to do the same thing that Isaac was doing to Jallen in order to get enough height that prey with tough shells would break apart on impact with the ground.
“Yes.” Fable replied simply.
—
Isaac planted his feet in the cavern’s ceiling and launched himself downwards with everything he had. He impacted Jallen with both of his hands locked together in a downwards strike capable of breaking stone. Another of Jallen’s ‘cheat death’ magic items broke with the resounding sound of breaking glass but the sound was almost entirely drowned out by the ringing steel drum that was Jallen’s armor. Jallen was catapulted downwards but Isaac wasn’t done. He teleported again and slammed Jallen with a stomp that further increased his speed. Isaac let himself slow to a stop in the air as he watched Jallen impact the ground right behind the drow formation. ‘Fuck I’m high.’ Isaac thought before he started to fall.
Jallen impacted the ground with so much force that the stone shattered beneath him and another one of his items broke. Isaac teleported next to the crumpled mess that was Jallen V’Nova. “How many of those do you have?” Isaac growled. Lenna had only been sure of one but this was total insanity. Jallen coughed up blood in reply. “It doesn’t matter.” Isaac said but was distinctly aware of the handful of seconds he had left of the Ten Men potion. Isaac grabbed Jallen by the collar and hoisted him up so his head was at Isaac’s chest level. “Die.” Isaac ordered the ancient paladin and drove his fist into the man’s broken and bloodied face.
The sound of breaking glass was followed by another powerful punch. The sound of breaking glass again, another punch that caused the nearby drow to flinch back. More breaking glass, another punch. More breaking glass, another punch. This one wasn’t met with the sound of an item breaking instead of Jallen’s life but rather an explosion of liquid. Jallen’s head exploded from Isaac’s punch. Bone was powdered while blood and brains were launched at incredible speed in all directions. Isaac dropped Jallen’s corpse and looked up towards where the sky was hidden behind thousands of feet of stone as the last of the Ten Men potion wore out. “YAAAAAAAA!” He roared towards the heavens with everything he had left. The impact of his primal roar shook the air around him and caused all of the drow nearby to take an involuntary step backwards.
A yell of retreat rang out from somewhere among the drow formation followed by another and another. The drow formation split to go around Isaac who wasn’t even paying attention to them anymore. His boost faded away as they parted to give him a wide berth. Isaac was breathing heavily as the exhaustion, from using the Ten Men potion and pushing himself to his limits and beyond, tried to force its way inside. Isaac continued to burn some of his mana regeneration to stave off the exhaustion but he knew that he really needed a good sleep. Maybe for a day or maybe for a few centuries.
—
“I… I surrender.” Macken said as he looked around. The drow soldiers around him were pulling back and he was still stuck in Lenna’s grasp. Fable and Edward moved around the pair to cut off Macken’s escape and he lowered his head. “Lenna,” He began and she looked at him as he relaxed his posture. “I won’t be tortured or anything, will I?”
Lenna shook her head. “Not as long as you don’t cause trouble.” She told him. “Edward,” She said and looked towards the Guild Master. “Can you take care of him?” She asked and Edward nodded.
“Yes.” He replied. “Paladin, take off your armor.” He ordered Macken. “I’ll have someone bring you antimagic cuffs. As long as you cooperate we won’t resort to what your people do as a pastime.”
Macken nodded and slowly started fumbling for the latch to take off his gauntlets. Lenna chuckled. “You still can’t do it yourself?” She questioned. “How old are you?”
“Shut up.” Macken shot back but continued to fail at undoing the clip to release his first gauntlet.
Lenna shook her head and grabbed his wrist before yanking it closer to her. With practiced ease she used the edge of one of the plates on her own gauntlet to unhook the latch. She grabbed his gauntlet and pulled it off of his hand before she stuffed it into his chest. “Here,” She told him. “I have to go make sure my mate is still human.” She said and started walking over the corpses of the fallen towards where she had last felt Isaac.
“Still human?” Macken asked after her but she either didn’t hear him or didn’t feel like responding.
“What is your name, paladin?” Edward asked. “I am Edward, the Guild Master of Safeharbor.”
“And I am Michael, the magistrate.” Michael added and approached Macken while stowing his sword. “You and I are going to be very well acquainted before you next see anywhere but a cell.” Michael sighed. “However, other important drow prisoners are given what amounts to free reign in the city so if you are lucky you might get to see the outside world again.”
Macken nodded at both of the men. “Macken Cla’Cen, just another knight.”