The next day, Drayek’s hunting group met where we usually did, right on the outskirts of the city close to Drayek’s and my hovel. Drayek, me (I was a replacement for Carissa as another melee fighter), Krato, Korin, and the other two new recruits: Noran replaced Marcus as a ranged fighter, and Leandra replaced Maran as a mage. She had powers similar to Maran's. Leandra could increase our group's stealth by casting a spell that made our entire party lighter on our feet. But, I had to admit, it wasn't as cool as Maran's Skill, where she could turn everyone and what we touched nearly invisible. However, Leandra’s Skill was still useful.
“We’ve been assigned to scout out to the west and determine if the Nagari army is indeed just a day out from Edrona,” Drayek told us. “And let’s hope they aren’t any closer than that.”
Leandra, a plump woman about the same age as Drayek, stood directly behind me and whispered a prayer to the goddess, asking her to grant our party aid and guidance. It set my teeth on edge, but I tried to ignore the prayer and focus on the task ahead.
The suns were high in the sky as the afternoon welcomed our hike deep into the desert. We remained close together, Drayek and I flanking Krato, and the rest trailing behind in their designated formation.
After a 20-minute march, our group scaled the mountain face that Drayek and I had climbed just days before. After a few minutes of climbing, we found a large enough ledge near the top to fit all of us and then some.
We all peered into the distance. When I had first noticed the army, I could barely make out any shapes other than a giant blob of mass headed toward Edrona. But now, I could make out each individual Nagari and their grotesque reptile torsos and tails, meaning they were extremely close to Edrona. They definitely knew where they were going.
I caught myself trying to count the Nagari numbers but knew that was fruitless. If I had to guess, Drayek and I had been slightly off with our first estimate; there were 12, maybe 15,000 of the creatures slinking their way to our city–not 10,000, as we’d previously thought.
“I would say they’re about a day out,” Drayek determined. “Maybe a little more. We’d better head back and inform the city.”
Just as our group moved to climb back one by one, piles of rocks spilled over the lips of the mountain peaks and ledges above our heads. A particularly large stone flew into my cheekbone.
I yelped and rubbed at the blood peeking its way through my skin.
All of the Hunters cursed as they craned their necks upward. I followed suit and what I saw made me feel like someone had tied my heart to a weight and dropped it into the depths of the oasis.
A chorus of hisses that rang through the mountain range accompanied the 100–no, more like 200–Nagari surrounding us from above. Their unnatural, fang-filled smiles spread across their faces as they observed our reactions.
Drayek shouted a curse and drew his sword from its sheath. “They must have sent a group of scouts ahead of the rest of the army.”
More prayers to Lady Euridice were whispered around me, and I felt a strong desire to do something similar, but I had no one to pray to. Codex? No. Maybe to the Lord Solomon AI? No. I hadn’t heard from him or seen him since our first meeting in that cave.
I only had Drayek, the rest of our group, and myself to rely on. No help from any outside forces, including the AI of the dead god.
Our entire party drew their weapons and gathered in a tight clump. We had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. All we could do was wait for the Nagari scouts to attack.
The creatures slithered down the rock face with their scaly-humanoid limbs, each of them swinging their tails back and forth and flicking their split tongues over their lips in anticipation. Drayek and I stood just behind Krato, who had activated his Spectral Shield already. I held my spear out, ready to jab at any oncoming Nagari before they could get to the rest of the group. Drayek was poised similarly with his longsword.
“Master, you are facing 190 Tier 1 Nagari. And there are 11 Tier 2s, one Tier 3, and there is also one Tier 4.”
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“Tier 4?!” I shouted to Codex in my mind. “How is that even possible?”
On my first hunt, before I had met Lord Solomon, Drayek and his Hunters had told me about a Nagari who could fight against Drayek one-on-one–neither of them able to kill the other. But I would have guessed this monster to be at a Tier 3 level, like Drayek. Was this Tier 4 a different Nagari? Or was it the same one but somehow broke through to a Tier no one in Edrona ever had before?
“My initial scan tells me the Tier 4 Nagari is somewhere near the back of these numbers. It hasn’t revealed itself to your vision yet.”
“Fantastic.”
“You know, Master. This sarcasm of yours actually is amusing.”
I ignored Codex and watched in horror as the Nagaris’ slow approach abruptly turned into a leap over us. My eyes searched for the Tier 4 Nagari, but I had no way of knowing which of the creatures it might be. And Codex said nothing.
Dozens of the Nagari landed in a line before us, and the others impacted the top of Krato’s milky-white, almost transparent, domed shield. Krato grunted from the impact but stood his ground.
I had no time to pay attention to what any of the Hunters did in defense. All I could focus on was thrusting my spear into the chest of the Nagari closest to me. I pushed a little essence into both the arms of my armor and my spear and stabbed through the creature’s heart with ease. But even with my essence-enhanced speed and strength, it didn’t solve the biggest problem of all; the speed of the Nagari was hard to keep up with as they replaced one another as each fell to a Hunter’s blow.
Krato’s Spectral Shield was already beginning to crack as each Nagari hacked away at the dome with their splintered spears, chipped swords, and menacing daggers. They hacked away at every side of the shield, and a few continued to pound at the top of the dome. They had the advantage. They had attacked us from above and had already weakened Krato’s Spectral Shield at the very beginning of the fight.
Soon, the shield shattered, leaving Krato motionless for a moment. I screamed his name and jabbed at the three Nagari who threw themselves at him as soon as he’d become vulnerable. I took down one, and Drayek sliced through the other two with one swing of his sword.
My screams to grab Krato’s attention weren’t the only cries to echo through the mountain range. The other Hunters howled and shouted as they attacked the Nagari and also as they received wounds themselves. Korin seemed spread too thin as she rushed from one comrade to the other, but at least she still held her own.
One by one, we each downed Nagari. I continued to draw in all the essence I could see as each Nagari died, not leaving much for the other Hunters to absorb, but they would have no way of knowing. But as each Hunter cast their spells, I left the essence they had used to activate their Skills to slowly flow back into each Hunter.
But as Drayek ran his fingers over the blade of his sword, igniting it in an angry red flame that matched his red armor, I was shocked by the amount of essence that escaped him as he activated that Skill, once again reminded that he was a high-level Tier 3. I had no way of knowing how close he might be to Tier 4, but he was definitely close. I could almost feel it.
Wait! The Nagari are casting spells….
I scanned my eyes over the crowd of monsters and watched as some of them summoned spells and Skills through various hand motions. If the Nagari were Tiered, like us, that had to mean they used essence similarly, if not the exact same way.
I caught sight of bursts of blue lines forming into hovering clouds over the Nagari’s heads, not only as they activated their Skills but also as they prepared to.
I maneuvered most of my body behind Krato, hiding myself from view–even if just for a moment–and stole the streams of essence away from every Nagari I could see before they could even use their Skills.
As the hundreds of essence streams flowed into me, I watched with satisfaction as about a dozen Nagari thrust their arms in various ways to cast their spells, then furrowed their scaly brows in confusion as nothing happened.
By some miracle, our group of seven managed to tear down all but 40 or 50 of the Nagari. My limbs ached from the overuse of pushing myself through my strategy of essence-enhanced armor and weapons.
Our group tried to stay alert, but we were all beginning to slow down. The fight had already lasted for maybe 10 minutes, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt tired. Korin’s arms began to tremble as she went over to heal a gash in Leandra’s leg, and Leandra threw one of her jeweled daggers at an oncoming Nagari’s throat with a shaky hand, missing the creature’s neck by an inch. I tore through that same Nagari’s chest with my spear but was careful not to force too much into my blow and used a minimal amount of essence in my spear and armor. I was learning how to manage how much I should push myself and how much essence to use as I fought–my body’s capabilities were far from limitless. I had to keep reminding myself of that fact.
“Rayden! Behind you!”
I ducked as Drayek expertly scooped up a stray dagger from the ground and speedily threw it in my direction. It hit a Nagari poised to strike me from behind with a sword. The dagger dug deep in between the creature’s slitted eyes, and it crumpled to the ground, sword falling from its slimy grip.
I rose to thank Drayek, but the “thank you” on my lips transformed into a horrified scream as one of the Nagari slithered behind Drayek and positioned a knife right over Drayek’s throat….