They were clearly fatal wounds, but thanks to the cruncher’s impressive Toughness, the beast was still alive for the moment. The outcome was good enough for Nick, since watching one of their packmates fall while facing down what had seemed like easy prey startled the advancing bonecrunchers. They made a break to one side, regrouping instead of bounding over his head. Step one complete.
He let out a relieved sigh, because that was exactly what he had been counting on. The unexpected loss had blunted the pack’s morale. Better still, they no longer had enough momentum to leap over the lemurs’ line. It wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but it bought Nick time—precious seconds to craft a slapdash miracle with the limited tools at his disposal.
Despite having recovered the initiative, he knew that he was in serious trouble. Because ten seconds later, the remaining crunchers charged. This time, instead of trying to leap, the brutal hyenas attacked the lemurs’ spear wall head-on, initiating a bloody melee as spears collided with snapping jaws all across the line. While the long weapons were useful at keeping the four-legged beasts at bay, their poor penetration was already causing problems. Although the brave primates landed countless hits, only a handful were able to inflict serious damage. While they fought to keep the spear wall intact, several of the crunchers were able to close the distance and land lethal blows.
One unfortunate lemur failed to step back in time when a hyena darted in low, taking the spearpoint along the thick hide by its shoulders. Before the tribe could move to counter, the cruncher grabbed the lemur by the leg and hauled it back into the pack. The pitiful primate had just enough time to let out a mournful wail before it was torn to shreds, the iron tang of fresh blood rising to ride the breeze.
During this exchange, the main cruncher contingent had spread out to engage the lemurs’ line, the powerful alpha squaring off against the Elder and her elite guard. Several hyena-boars were fighting near Nick’s location, and the beleaguered lemurs were barely holding on. If the pair of crunchers in front of him pulled back and threw their strength into the central brawl, they would breach the line within a few minutes at most.
But Nick wasn’t going to let that happen. Due to the effectiveness of his opening salvo, the flanking beasts were wary of him. Or, more precisely, of the Mana Dart orbiting his head. Afraid of being stricken by the magic missile, they were still watching him instead of the battle, just like he had planned.
Step two: a bit of misdirection while the magician performs his trick. With a feral grin, he raised his sword and stepped out in front of the line, telegraphing his intention to attack. The hyena-boars immediately pulled back from the spear wall, then spread out to come at him from both sides at once, intending to remove the unknown variable from the fight. To kill the creature that was preventing them from achieving what should have been an easy victory.
The instant the beasts began to move, converging on him like a noose tightening around his throat, Nick launched his dart, sending it flying straight up into the air. The beasts looked up in surprise as the silver missile sailed toward the clouds above, then turned to face him. They were confused by his apparent ineptitude but more than happy to take advantage of the opportunity to put him down for good.
A heartbeat later, the beasts sprang in unison, jaws spread wide to tear out his throat. Instead of dodging or angling his weapon to defend himself, Nick stuck his sword into the dirt and spun around. He covered his ears and closed his eyes, turning his back on the streaking hyenas and the promise of death gleaming in their eyes.
In most situations, this would have been tantamount to suicide, but in this case, the maneuver was necessary. While the beasts had been distracted, following the flight of his errant Mana Dart, Nick had tossed the flashbang he was holding in his other hand.
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The magic-imbued orb exploded in front of the hyenas’ eyes half a second later. He bid farewell to his final flashbang, sad to see them go but satisfied that he had used them well. He had learned firsthand just how debilitating the piercing flash of light and high-decibel shockwave were, and the crunchers’ ears were many times more sensitive than his own. He wished that he had been able to warn the lemurs. Hopefully, stepping forward to lower his elevation had helped shield his allies from the blast.
He need not have worried. When Nick spun around and opened his eyes, he saw that the tactic had been more effective than he had anticipated. As far as halfway down the lemurs’ line, the pack was momentarily disoriented by the sonic attack, allowing the lemurs to recover their formation and score several finishing blows in the process. The pair of crunchers that had been coming for him were rolling on the ground, whimpering while clawing blindly at the air.
But that was the only bit of good news. While Nick had underestimated the initial impact of his flashbang grenade, he had severely overestimated how long it would incapacitate the hyenas. Except for the pair who had been standing at ground zero of the blast, the pack had already recovered. Even those two were looking less dazed, although, judging by the blood running from their ears, they had been at least temporarily deafened. Not that the bloodthirsty hyena-boars needed to hear Nick to tear him to shreds.
While the crunchers’ rapid recovery was a worrisome development, he had already laid down his cards and had no choice other than to play out his hand. Fortunately, there was still a wildcard in play. Judging the distance, he leapt toward one of the half-dazed hyenas, sword poised to strike, its blade gleaming in the light of the sun.
The beast looked up and took a reflexive step back… just in time for his Mana Dart to complete its descent and land on target. Nick had used the trick he had come up with when battling the komo, sending the dart up to its maximum range as slowly as possible before arcing back down.
The chromatic wedge hit the hyena between its bulky shoulders, causing the creature to freeze up as the pain-inducing magic coursed along its nerves like a living flame. Before the cruncher’s partner could come to its defense, Nick brought his sword around in a horizontal arc with the weight of his body behind it.
Although it was a wild strike, his aim was true. The tip of the blade cleaved the air before parting flesh, slicing the beast’s throat all the way down to the bone. He let out a whoop in triumph, for his desperate defense was working out better than he had any right to expect. Unfortunately, his run of good fortune was not fated to last.
Because that was the moment when a pair of jaws closed around his thigh like a fang-studded vice, then began tightening their crushing embrace. As it happened, Nick was not the only creature capable of strategic misdirection. While his focus had been locked on guiding his sword to its target, the critically injured hyena that had fallen for his first trick had enacted its revenge, crawling toward him while he was distracted. Somehow, he could sense that it had burned all its remaining health, stamina, and mana to regain its mobility for one final push, hastening its death to settle the score.
Nick had seen what the crunchers’ jaws could do on numerous occasions. He knew that the beast could tear his leg clean off within a handful of heartbeats. Could cripple him by shattering his femur in only a fraction of that time.
Acting on instinct, his left hand shot down to his belt and pulled his wand free from its loop. Just before his bone cracked like an eggshell, he placed the wand against the wounded hyena’s chest and pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession. A pair of powerful shockwaves erupted from point blank range, crushing the bonecruncher’s heart and stealing the life from its eyes.
While he had managed to save his leg, he had already taken considerable damage. With an effort of will, he shut out the blinding pain. He desperately sought out his remaining enemy, looking up just in time to see the final cruncher leap straight for his jugular, too fast for Nick to bring his sword to bear.
On this near-death occasion, time didn’t slow down at all. But even if it had, it wouldn’t have done much good. In addition to being wounded, the situation had evolved beyond his ability to control. The cruncher’s attack had caught Nick flat footed, and he had nothing left up his sleeve that could save him from having his throat torn out.
Left with no better option, he let his knees go limp, dropping to the ground as quickly as he could.