Piercing ray. Nick gathered his concentration and willed the spell into being, preparing to drill a hole straight through the middle of the swarmling’s head. However, that was not what happened.
What happened was the instant that mana began gathering between his fingertips, the creature spun to face him, letting out a keening wail. He heard a dozen more cries out in the distance, certain that the swarmlings hunting outside had sensed his magic as well.
Crap, that’s not good. He let the spell dissolve, aborting the ray before it formed, even though he lost a fair amount of mana in the process. In the heart of that moment, a terrible revelation had been born. The swarmlings hunt by sensing mana.
Sure enough, the instant that his spell dissipated, the wailing stopped. Nick prayed that the two seconds he’d been casting wasn’t enough to let the horrors outside know where he was. He was quite sure, however, that the horror inside had homed in on his position. Because without further warning, the white grub came slithering toward him with incredible speed.
He had half a heartbeat to decide how he wanted to begin the engagement. His options had dwindled since he couldn’t use his spells. Not unless he wanted to fight off dozens of these things instead of just one. He had a hunch that firing his wand would draw their attention too.
Unable to use his spells or his most powerful tool, Nick realized with grim certainty that he was going to have to battle the hellgrub in hand-to-hand combat after all, and size up only gave him even odds of surviving the encounter.
I’ll have to watch out for its leap and bite and avoid the fluid inside its shell at all costs. Superficial wounds or even direct hits won’t stop it. Not unless I hit the mass protected by the exoskeleton.
That was all the time for thought that he was given. Half a breath later, the grub rounded the statue, the barbed hooks protruding from its quivering maw poised to strike. The instant that the creature revealed itself, Nick brought his sword down in a tight arc, aiming his chop to both decapitate the creature and block its path so that it couldn’t leap for his throat.
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His sword came down as the swarmling’s gaze locked upon him. Nick’s hopes for survival rode alongside the weapon, flashing crimson in the light of the blood moon. The creature pulled its body back at the last possible moment, the blade carving a wedge into the flagstones below. The hellgrub darted back in response to the near miss, hissing like a gas leak at the affront.
He blinked, and when his eyes opened once more, the creature attacked in a skittering rush. It wriggled using the tiny hooks along its body to pull itself forward, so fast that its form was reduced to a streaking blur before his eyes.
He had just enough time to adjust the angle of his blade and throw his body to one side before the hellgrub hit him, coming in low to cut his legs off at the knee with its swordlike teeth. The ring of chitin striking steel resounded like a bell, as Nick blocked the blow head on, the force of the impact causing his boots to slide back along the stonework.
He nearly lost his balance and fell when the swarmling hit him, which would have surely been the last mistake of his life. He recovered just in time, reversing his grip and driving the tip of the blade into the middle of the creature’s pale body. It would have been a serious injury for an ordinary animal or beast, but like the mantis he’d observed earlier, the penetrating wound only inconvenienced the otherworldly monster.
The creature reared back with surprising strength, forcing Nick to pull the blade out or have it torn from his hands. It lunged forward, the edge of its spikes brushing the leather of his jacket as he threw his body back. If the attack had caught his leg instead, it would have sliced through his flesh all the way down to the bone.
The moment that it recovered, the hellgrub changed tactics. Instead of slithering forward, it compressed its maggot-like body and then sprang into the air, coming straight at him even faster than before. It would have caught him completely off-guard if he hadn’t watched its siblings make the same move against the giant porcupine.
Instead of trying to block the strike and risk getting caught by its spines, Nick threw his body behind the statue, the grub shearing off a chunk of rock as it snapped at him in passing.