Chaos.
Human. Demon. Otter. Aether exploded through the trees. Warcries sounded in two different languages. The two forces that met in the forest were almost evenly matched from a numbers perspective, but they weren't evenly matched. Most of the humans were just fishermen. Their path through the system only highlighted with meditation and the occasional spawning monster from the Surge.
As soon as he'd heard that lazy drawl, Samba knew they were screwed, but as always Tala was right. His instinct wasn't to run or even to fight. He was a shield for the army, for his clan... for Mark.
With a roar and baring sharp teeth, Samba dove around a tree, scrambling for the tall demon, and tried to tackle him away from Mark.
The demon took his tackle head on and only took a single step back.
"And there's the pet," the demon guffawed. "If you want to be a pet so bad, come be mine. I'll make sure you get the best scraps."
"I'm not a One-cursed pet," Samba roared back, moving his arms into the [Coastal Clinch]. A blazing fist of light crashed into the demon's side and both Samba and the demon cried out from the searing heat. "Mark! Help the army! I'll hold."
The demon commander laughed again. "It's been awhile since no one has heard about ol' Junior. I'm gonna enjoy breakin' you."
"We'll see who breaks first." With one hand behind Junior's head, he snatched him off to the side. The move which had caused Georgia to stumble only forced Junior to take a small step. Growling, Samba rammed upward with his knee, but Junior blocked it with one hand.
He guffawed. "Is that-" Samba's elbow smashed into his cheek, interrupting Junior's speech. All mirth vanished from his face. "Pet, I'm about to whoop your ass."
A red fist shot towards Samba's face, but within the range of his clinch, he used his forearm to kill its momentum and followed up with another knee toward Junior's sternum. Wise to his knee elbow combo, the demon took a step back and Samba was forced to turn the knee into a step to follow him.
The [Coastal Clinch] was all about control and technically it should be able to be used against a stronger opponent, but Samba had never fought someone stronger. He tried to yank and push, but every attempt barely moved him.
All the while, Junior kept throwing punches. As close as he was, they were easy to kill their momentum, but the power and speed behind them still made every block a close thing. It was like fighting a giant snake that lashed forward with insane speed.
The two of them stayed trapped into an ever evolving stalemate. As the two of them stumbled through the forest locked in a standup grapple, Samba got better at using his [Coastal Clinch] against a stronger, taller, and heavier opponent. At the same time, Junior started peeling back the pattern that was any type of fighting style.
A punch flew towards Samba's left and he quickly killed its momentum with his forearm. Another flew from the right before Samba had time to take advantage of the opening and he was forced to quickly block it as well. Junior latched onto Samba's arms and launched a flying knee towards his chest.
Samba yanked the two of them backward in a panic and managed to turn the knee from a devastating hit into one that would be a giant bruise later. Junior did stumble forward after Samba's pull which gave him a slight moment to take advantage. He could knee back or he could find another way of attack, but he really needed to change up the fight.
And he had an idea.
He returned to the clinch, but he crowded Junior, allowing the giant demon no space to perform another knee of his own. Samba had never gotten a chance to use this against the Coastal Goblins, but it was almost always used against him. Junior's superior strength meant that the demon constantly tried to charge or drag him to break the hip to hip position that they were in, but Samba could ride the wave.
This was the [Coastal Clinch] after all.
It took Samba a minute to settle into the position and start finding openings, but when he did he took advantage of them. Resisting against a pull, he snapped a short knee into Junior's thigh. Compared to the elbow that he'd used earlier, it was nothing, but it added up.
The two of them struggled all around the battlefield. Samba wasn't able to tell if they were losing or winning, but since no demons came to accost him, he knew they still fought. He could hear Mark's cries still ringing over the battlefield and he hoped that his friend was keeping their army safe.
Over and over, Samba pummeled Junior's thighs with a tight knee or struck his side with a curved knee before closing the gap. With the kind of titanic Vitality that they both had, it took a while for the demon to feel it, but when he saw Junior was just a bit too slow to recover from a stumble over a root, he knew that he'd got him.
Junior knew it too.
Samba's dull senses picked up the Aether starting to circulate within him. Junior had only been fighting with half his resources.
Despite the sudden danger, Samba was not willing to let go. Fighting the stronger opponent in a standup fight sounded like something Samba would lose. Instead, he shoved his Aether into his Domain as fast as he could.
It didn't matter. His Domain was running full force when a wave of dirt came up from the ground like a curtain. It ran between them, getting in his eyes, nose, and mouth. He immediately started spluttering and coughing and only his [Coastal Clinch] gave him the instinct to keep a hold on Junior. His Domain, only useful for protecting damage, did nothing for the sand.
A powerful knee exploded into Samba's stomach. It obliterated the protections of his Domain and even sent him hovering in the air. Worst of all, it loosened his grip. A follow-up hook rocketed into his jaw the very next moment.
Samba's body was tossed to the side and tumbled across a root. Panicked, he opened bloodshot eyes, but Junior wasn't looking at him. He was looking at the rest of the battle. He looked pissed.
The dead were everywhere and Samba would mourn for those lost later, but there were more demon corpses than either otter or human.
Most of them looked to have died by Mark's blazing fist.
The majority of the fighting had ended at this point and Mark marched over to JR as Samba got back up.
"You killed my troops, boy."
"Just one left," Mark said before leaping into the air. Samba's muscles still shook from the strain of his attempts to keep Junior in his clinch, but even if his muscles stopped working entirely, he couldn't let Mark fight alone. In a mad scramble, he rushed to help.
It didn't matter.
All of Samba's work on weakening Junior's legs amounted to a slight stumble before he shot forward towards Mark. The demon ducked Mark's burning fist and planted a cross straight into his sternum.
Samba reached him a second later and tried to lock him back up, but the demon's Aether churned and another wave of dirt found him. This time, it wasn't content to simply wash over it.
The dirt felt alive, crawling over him like millions of infinitesimal bugs. It clung to his face, searching out his eyes and mouth and crawling down his throat. Panicked, he clawed wildly at his own face, trying to force the dirt back, but it was impossible to stop.
He gagged, and a second later, vomit spewed forth, its consistency acidic and muddy. Still blinded, Samba's back slammed into a tree and he just knew he was going to die. Mark was going to die and then all of their people.
In the next moment, the life in the dirt died.
It sloughed away from him other than the parts that had mixed in with his own vomit. He could suddenly see, blinking the painful remains of the dirt bath out of his eyes.
Mark groaned nearby and Samba ran over to him. "Where is he?"
"Ran off? I think." Mark rubbed at his chest and slowly sat up. "That bastard hits like a landslide."
"We need-." Samba gagged again, the dirt still coating his throat. "Eyes on the enemy." He pulled a waterskin from his [Expanded Pocket] and took a long draw. Afterwards, he splashed water in his eyes to try and clear those as well.
"Right. Shall we go together?"
Samba nodded. Elizabeth appeared out of nowhere. "If you two want to get more information, I can prep the army to run. If that demon gives up on the siege to wipe us out, we're done for."
That comment forced Mark and Samba to share a look. They'd been victorious, but there was only half as many troops as they'd started with. Otter and humans all hung from each other, and while they might be stronger in the long run, none of them had anything left to give now.
They were in a bad spot.
Mark clambered to his feet. "We need more information now."
The two of them loped through the forest, slow enough that they wouldn't get surprised by any hiding demons, but quick enough that Junior couldn't rally. They eventually made it to the edge of the trees without encountering any demons.
Outside on the plains in front of Thornridge, the army was... leaving.
The water Aether users were backing away from their earthen encampments while the rest of the army formed up just out of range of the city. A few rifled through the abandoned gear from the now dead two companies, but despite the loss, it was still a massive army of demons arrayed against them.
Samba'a eyes roamed about the army until they finally landed on Junior who stared right back at them. The demon smiled.
"Why's he smiling? Are they about to kill the rest of us?" Samba asked.
"I don't know," Mark said. "Maybe we should look for refuge in Thornridge?"
"I doubt they'd be happy to see more monsters after fighting with the demons. If it's that or die though..."
One of the hunters tore through the trees and stopped gasping for air at the edge of the treeline. "Elizabeth... asked for... orders..."
Mark continued to watch the gathering army as he tried to decide the best course of action. Both of them understood that getting chased through Veridia by an army well over four times their size was not ideal, but did that mean they risk going to Thornridge?
"Bring the army up here," Mark said. "We may need to take refuge in Thornridge."
Still catching his breath, the hunter looked skeptically towards Samba, but didn't argue. If the rank and file thought it was a bad idea, it probably was. Still, Samba didn't see a better option and he trusted Mark.
The hunter ran off and the two of them continued to watch the demons, but by the time their army came, the demons were just... leaving.
He and Mark shared a look as the two of them tried to figure out what they could be doing when they both came to a realization at the same time. Mark's eyes were as wide as saucers.
"They're heading towards Wavecrest!"
****
Tiria and their small gang of goblins returned to the abandoned village that Nori and her clan called home. The host moving into Veridia had been too large to do much against so after some raids that were more annoying than effective, they decided to rest up for a few days and wait for the war to progress more.
Tiria stood outside the inn where she, Chum, and Orchid had slept whenever they weren't in the field. Its planks were old and worn with some crooked and splintered.
It had a homey feel to it, but it didn't feel like home. She missed the domed Control building where she'd set up her desk and the housing spines that had been built by the Cave Goblins to provide homes for all of their accepted monsters.
The Lake Encampment seemed so far away now and it was. There was an ocean between her and it. Had Samba managed to escape with the clan? Or had she left him to die by not stepping up to lead?
"Tiria!" Someone shouted her name through the air and it sounded... very familiar. She looked left and right as she tried to see if Chum was looking for her, but she didn't see anything.
"TIRIA!" This time its origin was clear and she looked up into the sky to see a grinning dragonfly racing towards her from the air. She smiled despite herself, catching Poe out of the air and turning the dragonfly's dive into a spinning hug.
"Poe, what are you doing here?!"
"I'm looking for Kumo! The Boss told me to keep the clan together so I gotta do that! You should help me look!"
Poe's arrival had pushed all her concerns away, but his words reminded her that she too had a job to do. One that had finally become possible. "Poe... you can fly!"
"Well, duh."