The unrelenting blizzard had forced Rushvatte to quickly abandon his eagle form and begrudgingly joined the others who rode on land towards Nefelein Valley. He had seen a blizzard fall in Farenoth, but never thought it would be this harsh in this area.
Even after he picked the foremost position in their riding formation, their speed was not increasing significantly. This was the kind of moment he wished he got Tier around. Too bad, it was that exact hunter they were trying to reach this time.
“How much farther?” Rushvatte roared at Manna as they reached the bottom of the slope. “Is he really there? Don’t we have to ride faster?”
Manna opened her mouth to answer, but she herself seemed distraught. Rushvatte couldn’t see her visage clearly due to the storm, but at least his feelings told him so. Years of knowing her, it was easy to sense if the girl was not her usual at-my-own-pace self.
“Still quite far,” Nubram shouted. “It was Arkengrad herself that told us. Steven also confirmed that Pras was definitely going there.”
“And Lyra’s gang?”
“Bro, you forgot that Arkengrad is spying on them as well?” Grok chimed in. “And here I thought she was helping you guys indirectly lately with her information on Lyra’s position.”
“Most probably Arkengrad told Tier, not Rushvatte,” said Esferta, “Then it’s normal for him to not know.”
Grok grunted at the answer, “Okay, fine.” He turned to Rushvatte then gave an advice, “I know you are worried, bro, but if you get lost, wouldn’t it be worse? We will lack firepower if you’re not there or die earlier.”
Rushvatte just snorted at the advice. He was not sure if it was really necessary to bring Grok and Esferta here with them. If it's just Lyra, he bet he still has the chance to take her down single handedly. Also, if losing Rushvatte himself would severely reduce the whole group’s fighting capability, what would be the use of those two veterans then?
He tried to look in all directions, but there was only the darkness of the night sky and the thick falling snow wherever he looked. Faintly, he could see the shape of rocks which made the rock formation at the valley. Logically speaking, he could just dash in a straight line towards the centre as long as he refers to his map.
“He’s with Arkengrad, right?” Flick said in a relaxed tone. “They should be able to fend off Lyra’s gang until we reach them.” He then turned to Zackhs for confirmation, “Right, mate?”
The ever positive avenger was rather different this time. Rushvatte sensed a clear concern in his attitude especially when he said, “It won't be enough. If Lyra came with her client, then they would be severely outnumbered.”
Zackhs sighed as he galloped faster with his skeletal horse. He gazed at Manna and Rushvatte as he said, “I have a bad feeling about this pace. Both of you feel it too, don’t you? This looming eeriness.”
Rushvatte frowned at Zackhs. For a moment he considered if Zackhs was toying with him or telling the truth. But he quickly decided it was the latter due to the uneasiness he felt from the avenger. Thus he nodded.
Then Manna suddenly spoke with an almost defeated tone, “If we are late, we are sure to fail. I….”
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
“Let’s risk it,” Nubram shouted. “Like Mana said, I’d rather gamble on the chance we might reach the correct location. It is a flatland before us, we could risk speeding up.”
The wizard turned at Zackhs and Rushvatte, “Zackhs, you lead with him.”
“Let’s go.”
Zackhs suddenly galloped to his maximum speed towards the direction they believed to be the centre of the valley. Rushvatte quickly rode past him and positioned himself to give everyone a speed boost.
Not long after, beyond the thick veil of snowstorm, Rushvatte felt a vigorous fighting spirit flare up far ahead. His guts told him that it might be Tier.
He quickly pointed the direction to his friends and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Follow that way, straight ahead. I will go first to buy time, [Aquila]!”
Accompanied by the roar of his tiger mount, Rushvatte jumped forward. He spun as the greenish strands of light covered him. He heard some shouting from behind, but he gave it no heed and let himself be swallowed by the furious rumblings of the blizzard. His feelings told him to charge up ahead to buy time.
As his body turned into that of an eagle with greenish tint on its feathers, Rushvatte emboldened his decision. He might not be a hunter that had superior keen sense, yet he was a mystic who is sensitive to those unseen clues like auras and spiritual pressure. Betting on it, he braved the blizzard in top speed.
Soon after, he felt the fighting spirit die out, swallowed by the harsh cold of northern winds. Rushvatte's heart sank, yet he kept pushing forward. Then he saw the body of a rakhs hunter fall to the ground at the side of a female paladin. There were several figures standing around them, and one was walking towards the snow jaguar.
The mystic dove downwards in increasing speed. Screaming in eagle form, he managed to draw the attention of those figures.
“You’re too late!” Lyra mocked as she threw her lightning axes. Rushvatte managed to avoid the attack by diving further into the ground.
“Idiot! You’re in my range now!”
Slicer lunged at him. Yet, Rushvatte managed to avoid it by turning sharply right under Slicer’s arm - which was raised to slash at him.
“[Phantera]!”
Rushvatte continued to dive as he quickly turned into a Javan tiger. He rolled as he landed, avoiding the attacks of DeusVult and Zullvic.
“[Lighning Grip]!”
The tiger dashed towards Mal’esh, leaving the previous attacker far on his tail. He dashed in a zigzag manner to avoid Ikillyou, then turned into an eagle once more who flew towards his target with boosted speed from the earlier move. There he sensed another flying creature trying to interrupt him.
“[Freezing Tailwind]!”
“[Phantera], [Saber Slam], [Bjornur]!”
Rushvatte spun once more as his body shifted to tiger form. His brand new claw weapon scratched Xildur’s swan form while his body twisted in the air to avoid the freezing wind attack. All of it while turning into a bear form.
“[Brutal Impact]!”
As he slammed Xildur and landed to the ground, Rushvate dashed forward towards Mal’esh. The hunter turned at him and released several seemingly poisonous arrows. Those meant nothing, not even the lighting cage being thrown by Lyra - as well as arrays of disabling abilities from other players - was able to stop the furious cave bear charging at Mal’esh. He just instinctively knew they would try to disable him, thus he dashed with this ability.
Right when he met Mal’esh at the end of his dash, he threw the elven hunter to the air, then turn and slammed the hunter to the ground with his claw. Subsequently Rushvatte launched [Wild Drive], dragging Mal’esh towards Lyra’s gang and threw that hunter away like a bowling ball. Only Ikillyou and DeusVult got hit by Mal’esh helpless body, the others avoided it and lunged at Rushvatte.
Right at that moment, all the effects that he was supposed to receive during [Brutal Impact] hit him hard. Rushvatte was unable to move an inch. Yet, there was no slightest amount of fear in his feral heart. He knew that he now stood between the snow jaguar and his adversaries. He had to defend this position at all cost until the others arrived. Thus, the bear mystic stood his ground, clawed to the freezing snow, and let out a deafening roar.
“[Threatening Roar]!”