Kumo circled lazily in the water. Her tail flicked and she felt the currents disrupt the strange vibration that seemed omnipresent. The surface of the water rippled just beyond her, but her mind was focused on the feeling of expectation.
She was in bliss.
Some called it the "calm before the storm", but for her it was the feeling of expectation before release. It was the buildup before a battle where every fiber of her being was focused on that singular moment when violence erupted.
That moment where she'd stand with her siblings and throw the very essence of themselves towards their enemies. The one moment where she felt the most alive. For monsters like Poe, it might be the pause before the first kiss or the Twins, the mystery before the answer. For her, it was this moment.
A symphony played in her mind, the sounds of the drifting water, the flick of her tail, and that underlying vibration all built increasing the expectation and the electricity that seemed to excite just beneath her skin.
She was in bliss.
A glance behind her saw Samba and as many Templar as they'd been able to bring. Samba didn't share her feelings and his face seemed concentrated and serious. When Poe's voice yelled out in her mind, shock spread across his features and their eyes caught.
"Are you ready for war, my brother?," Kumo mouthed to him before she leaned back and slipped out of the surface of the water - directly into the open air.
The heat of the Barrens hit first and then the roaring wind as she started to fall towards the ground that spread out far below. Arrayed directly beneath her were the backs of thousands of Spiked Eagles, their fur made of jagged sharp sections of stone, but all of their eyes were focused on Gi and the Inquisitors below.
Behind her, Kumo could hear the tiniest cascade of splashes as Templar after Templar followed her out of the sky-ocean and joined her glorious charge. Over a hundred templar fell like rain and Kumo opened her arms to feel the air whip past her before her eyes alighted on her target.
An oversized Classer of the Spiked Eagle Clan.
Without looking, she knew Samba would be right behind her. She used [Quick Steps] and kicked off from her brother's palm and rocketed right towards the Classer. A mace appeared in her palm and she swung wildly as she flew. In a perfect mirror, a barrage of watery maces struck the Spiked Eagle below her.
The blows alerted it to her presence and it tilted upward to look at her, but it was too late. Kumo crashed into its back and the blow forced it to dip. The slight angle it had taken to look back had almost sent Kumo spiraling towards the ground far below. Instead, she activated [Commander] and her summon grabbed onto one of the Spiked Eagles many crags and caught her hand with the other.
The Spiked Eagle corrected its flight before it crashed into its fellows just as Kumo's summon pulled her back onto its wide back. Wind whipped at her robe wildly and a broad smile lit Kumo's face. Her attack hadn't gone unnoticed and the Spiked Eagle Classers were starting to shriek out instructions to their fellows, but it was far too late.
All around her, Templar crashed into the Elites of the Spiked Eagles using [Charge]. Their bodies themselves became the weapon and each one of them latched onto the backs of the Elites and let loose a deluge of water from each of their breath weapons.
For the Adolescent Spiked Eagles, the water from hundreds of the Underbridge Clan's [Breath Weapon] probably seemed like the Sky-Ocean itself had fallen upon them. Most of the Templar doubled up one of the Elites ensuring the surprise attack had enough damage to take them out. Samba, Tala, and the other Templar Classers had no need.
Kumo shot her own [Breath Weapon] before she started to pummel the Elite in front of her with a flurry of [Phantom Strikes]. Beside her, Samba had crashed into another Elite, but his body was larger than that of their Elites. It tried to spin and strike him, but he simply grabbed the Eagles neck in a chokehold and yanked it towards another Elite that Samba then grabbed in a leg lock around its head. The flurry of stone wings sent the two Eagles flapping wildly and crashing into even more enemies causing enormous chaos.
The whole time Samba squeezed and squeezed until their stone necks weakened by his [Breath Weapon] crumbled to dust in his arms.
"Careful, you giant furball!," Tala shouted as she suddenly had to drop to her belly to keep her grip on her own Eagle. Kumo finished off her opponent just as Tala's spun upside down in attempt to remove the Templar Classer from its back. Leaving her crumbling foe behind, Kumo activated [Quick Steps] and leapt onto Tala's opponent's belly, avoiding its sharp claws as she sprinted towards its head.
Its beak lashed out even as it started to spin again, but Kumo's [Phantom Strikes] were water based and two swift strikes broke the Eagles beak before its attack could land. Letting out a pained cry, the Elite changed its spin to a dive, but not before a few more attacks broke it apart.
All around, their surprise attack had been devastatingly effective. At least half of the Elites were destroyed in the initial assault, but now that the surprise had been blown, a few of them had been able to perform quick rolls to remove the templars off of their backs and send them hurtling into the Adolescents below.
Those that had shaken off their Templar, beat their wings to get the height advantage and even now a dozen were pulling into the sky above them. The Adolescents from below had already started to climb to come to the defense of their Elites, but they were slower than the Classers.
They were in a tough spot. If that was the only surprise they had.
"Retreat!," Samba shouted to Kumo just as he used an adolescent to leap upward and then activated his [Darting Fortress] to shoot towards the Elites above. Two walls of light smashed into two Eagles on each side of his target.
Using one hand on its neck to prevent his fall, Samba flung his legs around his opponents middle. Releasing his hand, he reached into his [Expanded Pocket] and pulled out the gifts that Rocky had found for them. A small orb made of paper and hide were hefted in each hand, looking tiny compared to the giant Samba. Breaking the seals with his claw, a gas started to leak out of them and Samba tossed one to either side of the Elites who'd been struck by his [Darting Fortress].
On impact, an explosion erupted from either side, scorching both Elites and forcing them to veer off. The fire had an even stronger impact than water whereever the Elites had been injured. The rest of the Templar were making their way to the ground using the Fire Bombs as a means of creating an exit. The Adolescents had no chance against the Fire Aether of the constructed item.
The Twins' research had paid off.
Kumo hadn't been idle during that time either and she definitely wasn't going to retreat while her brother was still fighting. After Tala had dropped off their dead enemy, Kumo used [Quick Steps] to push off from its body and used a rising Adolescent as another touch point. She made sure to kill it for its help.
Shooting upward, she didn't have quite enough distance to reach another Elite, but one saw her approach and she could see the rage in its avian eye as it committed to a dive on her. It shot forward like a missile easily increasing its speed almost four times.
Surprised by its sudden acceleration, Kumo activated [Shadow Walk], her upgrade of [Skulk] from her time during the monsoon season. Her form disappeared to the attacking Eagle's eyes. She reappeared just a foot higher than she was before.
The Eagle still hit her, but instead of a devastating kill, she bounced off of the top of its head and spun wildly into the air. Thankfully, she was close enough to Samba that his Domain blunted the damage and only a little blood oozed down her robe. She tried to right herself, but the Elite was faster still somehow.
It spun around and opened up its wings. A flurry of spikes of stone fired from its wings. Having the Aether type advantage, Kumo used her [Phantom Strikes] to destroy the incoming projectiles. Her [Fighting Style] had also evolved into a wild speed based style called (Oppressive Downpour) and she pulled another mace out of her [Expanded Pocket] to use it.
Her attacks with [Phantom Strikes] suddenly increased threefold and with the type advantage, the Eagle could barely shoot out its stone spikes to try and intercept them before it was forced to fly away. It swooped back around to come dive her again, but at that moment, Samba must have finished his own fight because he fell past her and snatched her out of the air as he did.
"You were supposed to leave," Samba growled.
"You were too," Kumo countered.
His eyes flicked wildly as he counted the sea of Adolescent Spiked Eagles that had pulled back in to block the path that the other Templar had made to the ground. A handful of Spiked Eagle Elites were still completely unharmed, and even as he watched, the group of them started to dive with their insane speed.
"Shit," he said. Kumo started to say something else, but he activated [Darting Fortress] aimed straight down. Amazingly, he adjusted the Skill allowing himself to spin around so he charged into the Adolescent Spiked Eagles with his back. Stone and indignant cries exploded around them as they burst through them, but Kumo who Samba still had wrapped in his arms had a front row seat at the rapidly approaching Elites.
She only had one arm free from Samba's grip and she used it to send [Phantom Strikes] to disrupt their dive. Her attacks were enough to send one of them cutting away before the injuries mounted too high, but that didn't stop the rest.
"INCOMING!" Kumo yelled, but Samba was already moving to protect her. He flipped around in air and used both hands to chuck Kumo down into the slight space he'd made in the Adolescent Eagles. It wasn't enough to clear her way to the floor, but she'd have a good chance.
Behind her, she heard Samba cry out as several Eagles crashed into his back with enough force that it dislodged his chest piece and sent it spinning past Kumo as she landed on a Spiked Eagle just long enough to crush it. Her eyes flicked upward, but she could see that enough blood had started seep around his robes to where Kumo could see it from the front.
She needed to help him, but she was too far down and there wasn't a pathway back up.
"POE, SEND HELP!," She yelled into the wind, hoping desperately that she'd be heard.
We're on the way! Poe yelled in her mind and like it had been a herald for Danna herself to appear, dozens of beams of light cut through the Adolescent Eagles on each side of her. Seven golden otters flew through the air up towards her cutting through the waves of Adolescent Spiked Eagles that still flew in the air.
Just behind them, Poe flew upwards with Tiria mounted on his back. [Web Lock] from Poe tied up the Adolescents' wings and then started to fall below. At the same time, dozens of maces made of water poured out of her hands as she used her [Waterborn Armory] domain.
Kumo smiled. With Tiria and Gi here, she knew Samba would be all right. She had to get to the ground and get to her Hunters for the next phase. With her way down now mostly clear, she pulled a strange pack from her [Expanded Pocket]. Quickly shouldering it, she dove towards the ground waiting for the right minute to activate it.
***
He could feel blood pouring out of his back as he entered a freefall towards the ground. Like the other Templar who'd gotten to the softcap of Vitality, the fall wouldn't hurt him, but the continuous barrage of the Spiked Eagles would. A small amry followed him down only pausing for one of the Elites to dive into him, slamming into him with more force than Georgia's charge.
If it wasn't for his [Towering Physique] and [Radiant Guard] Domain, he'd probably already be dead even with his Vitality and Quicksilver Body. He'd been trying to fight off the attacks by facing the Sky-Ocean, but his [Darting Fortress] was coming off cooldown and it was his one chance to get some distance.
Samba spun around towards the ground and relief washed over him as he saw the Boss, Tiria, and Poe rising up to rescue him. The boss was close enough that he could see the golden droplets evaporating from his body to keep him aloft. All he had to do was get to the past them and the Boss would take care of it.
Unfortunately, his brief pause allowed a Spiked Eagle's dive to hit his back and he cried out as the blow bent him backwards. With help so close, he couldn't die here. He still had his duty to protect the clan.
Gritting his teeth, he ignored the renewed attacks of sharp stone that tore into his already injured back and activated [Darting Fortress] directly towards the Boss. He barreled towards Gi with two walls of light on either side of him and he saw the Boss's eyes grow wide at the sudden mass of fur and light that shot towards him.
With a shout and strain of his Aether, Samba forced his Skill to end early and the walls of light disappeared as Samba's speed returned to normal. The Boss gave him a slight nod as he flew past him and Samba could hear the destruction as Gi released a storm of light above.
Poe landed on his chest, laying almost flat against him which meant that Tiria was leaning almost face-to-face with Samba.
Flying Medic Service is here!
Tiria smiled and a bubble released from her palms to envelope the falling Samba. Immediately, he felt his wounds close up and his bleeding turned to a bare dribble. She fired off another one which helped further, but they were hesitant to do more after what happened with Gi after the Dungeon.
"Thanks," Samba said over the roaring wind. "I got it from here."
Tiria and Poe spun off of him and to Samba's surprise the ground had gotten very close, very fast. With his injuries mostly healed, he flipped himself around so he was feet first just as he slammed into the ground. He tried to roll as he landed, but the force was too great and he slammed down into the ground.
Their tests had said they could make the descent unharmed with their Vitality and it was mostly correct. Some of the wounds on Samba's back immediately reopened, but he could see most of his Templar and Tala waiting for him back near the Inquisitors.
He smiled at his wife, but his grin faded as he looked around more closely. There were over two dozen Otters laying lifeless on the ground around him. They were all Templar. Since they could survive the fall, it meant they'd died during the assault.
How many of them had just spawned? How many were barely older than Children?
With a grimace, he looked to the sky. There were still thousands of Spiked Eagles in the air, still hovering outside of range of the Inquisitors attacks for now to focus on the golden otters in their ranks. Spiked Eagles still fell out of the sky steadily as Gi or Tiria's attacks took them out. It wasn't long until the remnants of their Elites retreated eager to return to the stalemate from before. The boss must have decided that was enough as well as he and Tiria were rushing back towards the ground.
Samba climbed to his feet with as much haste as he could with his injured back and hurried over to the other Templar. Kumo stood over by the Twins and Elizabeth, but she gave him a satisfied smile. She didn't seem anything but excited as she looked up at the thousands of enemies above them.
The lunatic.
"Hold steady," Gi yelled as he arrived back on the ground and his [Archbishop]s winked out. He pointed at Chum. "Continue the attack rotations so we can maintain Aether. Unless something changes, we have the upper hand. It's just an endurance fight now."
Chum nodded, but Elizabeth snorted before adding her dull drone. "We haven't even seen the Progenitor yet."
"We'll deal with him when he...," Gi's voice cut off as a huge shadow fell on them. As though Elizabeth's words had been a curse, a massive Spiked Eagle blocked out the sky. Its wingspan was wider than the entire mountain and even at this distance, Samba could see the rage in its eyes clearly.
Samba's body sagged. How were they supposed to fight that?