The cart behind Zalia vaporised as Hildebrandt shot up into the sky with a powerful jump. Only one of the Astar vanished from where it hovered, appearing again closer to the ground.
At the peak of her jump, now at the same height as the Astar, Hildebrandt activated an ability.
This was an ability Zalia had not yet seen, but had read when shown by Hildebrandt. It was called Defend The Kingdom and as she activated it, a large, golden dome covered Hildebrandt and the Astar, a floor appearing underneath, locking the three inside.
Zalia had caught a peak at the rank of the two Astar still in the sky and worry filled her at having not one but two Emerald rank Astar to fight. It wasn’t an impossible fight for Hildebrandt, but Zalia was concerned for her all the same.
The dome was powerful against the Astar in that it was nearly indestructible, even by Hildebrandt’s standards, and blocked anything except allies from entering or leaving its area, lasting for an entire day. Every time something struck the dome it would trigger Backlash, a powerful retribution ability, meaning even attacks that missed Hildebrandt would still cause the Astar to be struck.
Zalia had to change her focus from the fight above to watch the Astar down with the rest of them. She swore it was the Gold rank Astar that she had fought, healed and ready to fight again. It hadn’t yet been a day since her first fight with the Gold ranker and so Protection of the Wilds wasn’t available yet. Fortunately, she wouldn’t need the ability as she had three other Silver rankers with her.
Faian called for the Bronze soldiers to retreat and make a formation around the cart and the earth mage that had been driving it began to work building a dome of their own. Metal flowed from the ground, building up and around to form an ever thickening barrier between the Bronze rank soldiers and the fight far above their power. They were there to ensure no Astar would teleport in and steal Hidey while the rest of them fought.
The Gold rank Astar was waiting, having learnt to be wary of Zalia who now had allies, so she flew up to start the fight herself.
Arrows flew from her bow as Zalia began a ritual. It was a curse effect that would hold the Gold rank Astar from teleporting. Not about to allow Zalia to cast her rituals without retaliation, the Astar deflected an arrow before appearing next to her, ready to strike.
Barely a few metres in the air and ready for the attack, Zalia shot backwards as the soldiers below jumped to grab the Astar. They dragged it down from the air with their weight as Zalia’s ritual activated, a slight warping of the air the only apparent sign of it working. The soldiers slammed the Astar into the ground but it got to its feet quickly with lithe movement, dodging out of the way of the soldiers blades.
The Astar had to ignore Zalia for the moment as it fought the two soldiers, its duel swords flashing in the light as it defended itself. It even managed to deflect Zalia’s arrows all the while.
Faian stood back from the fight, radiating an aura that made Zalia feel energised and ready for battle. Her mana was recharging faster than the ritual could use it because of this, so she started casting a few more.
Purple flames covered the Astar, a sizzling sound coming from its skin. It looked straight up at her as she did this and with a small flash of light, both of her rituals were dispelled.
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Hildebrandt stood her ground as she waited for the Astar to make the first move. It would be a hard fight, she knew, and one that would take a very long time. She only hoped that it wouldn’t outlast the lifespan of her dome.
One of the two Astar held a massive two handed sword, while the other wielded two daggers, one coated in a blue light while the other seemed to pull the light of the world into itself. She was wary of the daggers, sure that whatever was creating the effects on them would be nasty to deal with. The greatsword was another matter entirely, something she was better equipped to deal with.
She hefted her shield towards her enemy, watching as the aura from Stand Your Ground spread towards them, almost as if the air were alight. The effects of her shield and armour would be important in this fight, as she had no doubt that her body would be pummeled and very possibly destroyed at one point or another.
Defender’s Immutable Shield (Heirloom) - Deeply Bonded Gold rank.
Tin - This shield cannot be broken by any normal means. In addition, the wielder takes slightly less damage from all sources.
Iron - Damage mitigated by the shield, whether it be blocked or reduced, instead heals the wielder.
Bronze - You may ignore all magic effects for five minutes. This ability has a twenty-four hour cooldown.
Silver - When Backlash is triggered by blocking with this shield, it has further increased effect.
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Gold - When you would otherwise die, you are instead healed to a healthy state. This effect is negated only if you die by a weapon impaling you.
Defender’s Godly Armour (Heirloom) - Deeply Bonded Gold rank.
Tin - The material of the armour is magically strengthened.
Iron - When standing your ground, you and the armour take less damage.
Bronze - The strength of the effects this armour provides scales based on how outnumbered you are in a fight.
Silver - Your Resilience and Vitality increase based on how damaged the armour is.
Gold - If the armour is ever damaged beyond use while you are wearing it, your skin becomes like the armour until it is repaired, gaining all abilities and effects it would otherwise provide.
The Astar with the greatsword moved in first, appearing before her already swinging. The sword impacted her shield but instead of throwing her off balance, she remained unaffected while the Astar was blasted backwards. Backlash triggered twice as always, empowered by Godly strike which attacked the very soul of the Astar. It slammed into the side of the dome and Hildebrandt followed up with Explosive Force, blasting it into the dome wall again as it bounced off.
The explosion reached the other Astar as well, yet the dagger wielding foe went translucent, the wave passing over it without harm.
The Astar that had just been slammed into the dome not once but twice, affected by four instances of Backlash, two from hitting her and two from surviving Explosive Force, stood up and rolled their shoulder. If the creature had a mouth, Hildebrandt had no doubt it would be twisted into a grin.
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Zalia had to throw herself backwards as the Astar appeared before her, one of the swords missing her by a hair as she fell. She tried to kick at the hand holding the sword to disarm it as she went but was dodged.
As she landed on her back with a painful impact, the Astar came down with her, twin swords held in preparation to impale her. Zalia rolled out of the way but one of the soldiers was already there, blocking the swords with the heater shield he wielded. He was pushed into a fighting retreat as Zalia got to her feet and the other soldier joined, spear flashing in at opportune times.
A kick sent the shield wearer flying and the Astar got within the spear soldiers reach with a quick teleport. The soldier tried to ward the Astar off with the haft of the spear but only managed to block one of the swords as the other sheared through his armour and left a gaping slash from shoulder to hip. She stumbled backwards, gasping in pain, while Zalia jumped in to help with her own sword at the ready.
Zalia activated Fight or Flight, the slowing of time to her perception and increase of speed helping her to match, then outmatch the Astar. For a moment she pushed the Astar into a retreat while Healing Presence healed the wounded soldier behind. The man with the shield was up already, dashing in slow motion to help her.
Fortunately, Fight of Flight also told Zalia where strikes would hit her. She dodged one blade by twisting her body, stepping back with her right foot. The second blade would have hit her left shoulder had she not parried it, using the burst of speed and power that gave her to swing her own sword in a glowing arc at the Astar’s own shoulder in a counterattack.
Instead of making contact, her strike was avoided by the use of teleportation. She felt where the sword would hit her, a jab right between her shoulder blades. The feeling disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared and she turned to see the shield wielding soldier had managed to change the direction of his charge and shield bash the Astar in the face.
Fight or Flight ran out at that moment but Zalia didn’t need it as the Astar went stumbling. Now healed, the spear soldier helped her ally and together they pushed the Astar’s stumble into further desperation, twin blades fending off the soldiers’ strikes with blinding speed.
Having had her rituals dispelled once already, Zalia instead began casting an anti-teleportation ritual on the area they were fighting in, hoping that the Astar wouldn’t be able to dispel it in that way again if it weren’t a curse on its body.
Nearby, Faian was sweating as she continued to funnel strength, energy and mana into Zalia and the other two soldiers.
Her sword now turned to her bow, Zalia realised the Astar was constantly speeding up as they began to block each strike with further ease than the one before. The occasional arrow from her bow joined the chaos as she continued to cast her ritual and the Astar failed to block one of them, catching the arrow in the shoulder instead. The impact knocked its block off balance and the spear soldier managed to impale it through the side of its abdomen.
Acting quicker than she thought should have been possible for the Astar’s rank, it cut through the haft of the spear with a powerful strike, leaving the tip still buried in its body. The shield wielder tried to continue the momentum of their advantage but the Astar managed to disarm his sword with a quick, twisting parry that sent the blade flying away.
Without missing a beat, the soldier pulled a belt dagger as the spear wielder pulled out a side sword.
Zalia’s ritual activated as arrows continued to fly and seeing that Faian was about to run out of mana to give, she cast Nature’s Wrath.
Vines grabbed the Astar’s legs as five elementals made of stone ripped themselves from the ground. The two soldiers stepped back to take a moment to calm themselves as the elementals began attacking the Astar with pummeling strikes. It couldn’t block them all and was soon stumbling about trying to keep its feet, the vines easily tearing away, as it was struck over and over.
Unfortunately, the stone elementals were only Bronze rank and couldn’t inflict much damage on the Gold ranker. The rest of Nature’s Wrath under Zalia’s control, however, very much could.
Fire rained down from the sky, spinning into a whirling tornado filled with flame. She threw spikes of stone into the mix, aiming them so that they would impale the Astar that had disappeared into the whirlwind. The Astar hadn’t teleported from within its eye, she could still barely see it hunkered down in the middle, withstanding the bashing, impaling and scorching she delivered upon it.
Then she noticed the power building within the Astar’s hands as her attacks continued. With a powerful punch, it hit the ground and everything exploded.