A sound of a war horn rolled over the flat plain once more. The calm grass sea seemed to react to its call for slaughter, rippling violently like a sea stirred into anger by a vengeful storm.
The wind blast hit the alert elf, who felt a spectral fist forcing the air out of her lungs with one powerful punch.
As Iris looked around she found herself the least affected by the mysterious blast as beside her the pale girl was bent forward holding her stomach. Around her humans overtaken by unnatural fear began to mount their frightened mounts.
Iris's hand reached for Kia whose body cowered away from her. The girl's once brilliantly bright eyes were covered by a film of fear shrouding the necromancer's protector with dreadful shade.
As the girl stood petrified from fear, Iris grabbed Kia's shoulder and held her close causing the murky veil to be lifted, and replaced with a familiar light.
"Damn those furcoats!" Iris heard Tserei's deep voice curse under his breath. She looked up from the confused mage and found barely any time had passed.
Standing above her leader of the humans wiped the drop of blood running down the corner of her mouth. His towering presence shrank slightly as he surveyed his surroundings. His jaw mulled over some lonely thought as more panicking humans fled before his aura burst forward as fur-covered figures crested the small bump in the landscape south of them. The demi-humans charged toward the settlement and plunged into screaming and howling their savage warcries.
Iris stood up and held Kia's hand, attempting to run from the bloodthirsty pack.
"You can try to run," A deep hoarse voice warned the tall elf while betraying non of the human's emotions as he shrugged. "But, furcoats are almost as fast as terror birds, you stand no chance without one. Ruuwamud rode to the far side of the camp and gathered as many people as you can to surround furcoats while I distract them."
"Wyrm is with us." With a final salute-like gesture the two tall men ran as fast as they could into the forest of tents.
Even if Tserei was right and the demi-humans were faster than them Iris was convinced that after fighting the humans and most likely looting their village the demi-humans would be either too far back or exhausted to effectively pursue the tireless pair of the undead.
"Iris!?" Kia let out a surprised yelp as the elf broke into a sprint, lifting the necromancer over her shoulder and letting her legs dangle freely in the air before the girl with a poor sense of danger could change her mind.
The frown on the pale-skinned elf greatly deepened as between the blades of grass she saw a demi-human feasting on a freshly killed terror bird. The sound of flesh tearing away from the bone came from the direction of the demi-human with dark yellow fur with a steaming chunk of pink flesh ripped with one savage pull in his teeth.
The demi-human savage rose onto his two clawed feet and the only word coming to Iris's mind to describe the beast was large. Even under the thick dark fur, the creature's muscles were clear for all to see, their size unattainable for any civil race.
Letting go of Kia, Iris quickly thrusted the tip of her spear at the demi-human resembling a crossover between a cat and what she imagined werewolves looked like.
The jagged glass spearhead pierced the air in front of the elf who had her wish of quickly ending the fight with the massive feral beast snuffed out as the towering savage dashed backwards with surprising speed for his bulk.
[Inspect]
[Demi-human Level 51]
{The creature inspected is of the Raion subspecies.}
[*The creature is temporarily experiencing a burst of power.]
* Knowledge partially shared due to [Anchor] trait.
{Approximet duration of the buff is 30 days.}
Iris couldn't peel her eyes off the duration of the buff, as she wondered what could even maintain such a spell. Seeing his opponent distracted the enormous demi-human leapt at the distracted elf with razor-sharp claws springing to life.
A puff of yellow fur danced on the wind as the beast hit Iris with his shoulder as he spun through the air with his hide falling off as it withered from Kia's spell.
Hastily activating her Fortitude ability, Iris's heels dug into the earth as they transferred the energy from the impact into the ground not letting herself lose her balance. Aggressively, she dashed at the beast-man with her weapon ready to strike. Plunging her spear downward she pined his paw to the ground before kicking at his snout with all her strength.
The level 51 demi-human matched the tall hoplite's boot with his other paw surprising the young adventurer once more. Given that the risen was at the same level as he was and under the effect of Fortitude, she expected to be stronger than the demi-human but she found her attack matched with her opponent having a firm grab on her foot.
The yellow beast's face made an intelligent smile as his body visibly worked to halt the pale elf's kick before levering the elf of her weapon by pushing her foot upward.
A white light briefly illuminated Iris's peripheral vision, standing up she found the beast-man's fur covered in tiny ice crystals, but whatever Kia's spell was called the massive beast looked unharmed as he forcefully stood up and tried to attack the necromancer.
Iris stood up as fast as she could and charged at the Raion as he swiped his dagger-size claws at Kia's slender frame.
The sound of glass breaking filled the risen's ears as she jabbed the yellow beast's leg from behind causing him to fall. He gracefully fell on all fours of his powerful limbs and tried to leap away but Iris's dwarven spear punctured his broad torso while another ice-blue icicle found its home in his shoulder blade.
The elf stabbed the Raion again just at the base of his skull before she checked the necromancer finding Kia's skin covered in a thick ice sheet with a deep laceration almost reaching her skin in it before the icy slab detached from the mage and dropped to the ground with a dull thud.
"More of them in front of us and behind us." Kia's callous voice reached Iris who was very grateful her mind was detached from her body
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
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Iris took a quick glance around herself and saw the grassland filled with both humans and demi-humans interlocked in fierce fighting as the fire was set to a couple of the tents.
Bloodthirsty warcries made Iris's eyes focus on the direction they came from. She saw five demi-human attacking her all varied in size and looks with the smaller ones resembling humans with an animal's part such as ears mixed in, unlike the larger ones which were more beasts than man.
The shorter demi-humans spread out trying to flank the two adventurers while having to dodge Kia's frosty spells.
The hoplite had to match the three bestial demi-humans from the front not allowing them to progress further leaving the necromancer to deal with the two flanking demi-humans.
Iris stood firm against the boar, cat and bear beastmen, trying her best to make each step she had to step back be paid dearly with both time and blood. Unable to effectively ripost against her opponents without leaving at least one of the hulking demi-humans to assault Kia each blow and scratch she received chipped away at her hit points with even her armour unable to protect against the blunt force her body had to endure.
As a painful animalistic yelp sounded behind the elf's back a boar-like beastman with coarse brown fur and a short but broad snout swung at her with a closed fist. The light on his forearm disappeared as the fist ended its arc on the stomach of the feline beastmen, barely missing Iris who had just dodged a different blow.
The largest of the beastmen resembling a feline with green-blue fur folded in half as the boar's clawed hand came to a sudden stop.
With a snort the bestial cat grabbed the boar's tusk and leveraged him to fall onto his belly, hitting the ground with considerable force. The largest of the demi-humans then stepped over the dazed boar and started to claw at his back before sinking his sharp teeth into his throat.
Unfazed by the sudden betrayal the bulky bear-related beastman threw his scarred body at the elf who sidestepped his slow attack before stabbing her weapon into his back. The jagged glass edge of her weapon had no problem slashing his thick skin as she brought her spear up like a glaive, opening a deep bleeding wound from the bear-man's left hip to his right shoulder.
"!?" Iris felt something hitting her upper body sweeping her off her feet.She quickly realized that the demi-human had chucked the body of the cloven one at her as warm blood leaked onto her pale skin and she felt the coarse fur grazing her cheek.
The risen pushed the corpse off of her but as she freed herself from the stench of the corpse her leg was lifted into the air by the bear-man. A muted sting of pain coursed into her soul as large yellow teeth started to tear a chunk out of her calf.
Before she could react to the first attacker the hoplite saw the looming form of the cat covered in blood approach her. The green and blue mountain of muscles grabbed her arms and began to pull them toward himself while keeping his clawed foot on her chest.
Iris's unnaturally calm mind raced against her rapidly draining Hit Points which swiftly passed the halfway mark.
"[Self Combustion]!" Iris shouted the spell empowering it with as much mana as she could.
From her body, a powerful shockwave threw both of the demi-humans of the wounded risen as their fur was ignited with orange fire which happily danced on their flesh before hopping onto the grass nearby.
"Aaahh!" The elf felt the spell inflict damage on her which felt as real as if she was living once more. Forcing her body to stand up she grabbed her weapon and searched for Kia.
The bloody undead holding onto her shoulder spotted a beast pinning her mistress to the ground holding her slender arms above her head while snapping his jaw at her. The overpowered undead was curled up beneath the demi-human stomach and using her legs to push against his stomach keeping his head away from herself as saliva dripped onto her chest.
The elf grabbed her spear like a javelin and threw her weapon at the vermin on top of Kia. A disgusting wiper pleading for mercy sounded from the beastman as the black tip of the spear exited his side freeing the mage from him.
The risen glanced behind her and saw the charred cat swiping at her. Her body moved to dodge the swipe before she used her whole body to shoulder bash her opponent as she felt her calf giving out.
The elf fell onto the beastman and they both hit the ground. The large cat grabbed her shoulders, stabbing her with his claws as the undead aimed her strike at his throat, ripping the windpipe from the beast's neck.
Status
....
HP 580/1800
MP 1355/2100
...
"Iris!" Kia quickly appeared over the elf who slumped onto the ground.
"Beautiful." Iris's bloody fingers painted Kia's pale face with crimson fingerprints as the risen ensured that she was really there.
"Stop it." The mage who casted a spell on the elf causing her slow regeneration draining the hoplite's precious mana to rapidly speed up, hit Iris in the stomach bringing her back to reality. "This is not the time."
"You are right."
Looking at the human forces Iris judged that the nomads fought with the physically powerful demi-humans in a much more advantageous position than she did as the humans rode circles around the beast, turning them into pincushions. It wasn't a perfect strategy as Iris saw some humans being cornered or thrown from their mounts and being swiftly killed but it was a simple and clearly thought-out strategy that the humans used to survive in the plains.
"You!" Iris quickly turned toward the voice behind them while moving the girl behind herself.
Standing a meter taller than her a giant brown-furred demi-human with large circular dots pointed at her.
The beastman's back was severely tilted forward making his head between his massive shoulders. Where his spine curved a large red crest made out of long rigid hairs grew giving the beast another half a meter in height. His face was dominated by a large black dog's nose under which a crooked smile formed.
[Inspect]
[Guagoa Pack Leader Level 97]
{Guagoa are a variant of Demi-humans that live in deep underground caverns. Young guagoas are fed with minerals found in their lairs, and the types of minerals they consumed heavily affect their abilities when they reach adulthood.}
Unlike other demi-humans, the giant guagoa didn't wear any clothes unshamed by his appearance, and even with Iris standing roughly thirty meters away from him a strong revolting stench reached her.
"Kneel for Dago the Storm-Bringer!" The guagoa roared before snickering to himself. As Iris spotted a large curling horn dangling on a rope around his neck.
Seeing the elf not do as she was told a couple of the demi-humans around Dago began to approach her. Crimson droplets painted the tips of the swaying grass red as the giant guagoa hit the eager demi-human closest to him.
"Dago doesn't need his Dagorachi to help him." The guagoa outstretched his arms turning his back to the two undead inviting an attack from them.
Kia whispered quietly her response, hurling a thick icicle toward the guagoa. Instead of going straight toward the guagoa's back, the icicle had a high arc to it and as it was about two meters away from its target it shattered into razor-sharp needles speeding toward the ground.
Dago barely managed to dodge Kia's spell as it skewered the knocked-out beastman. The pack leader charged at them on all fours before leaping at the elf. Iris felt the ground under her feet move as her weapon matched with the guagoa's thick claws.
The beastman seemed to grow bored with the risen as they exchanged blows with none of them finding their mark. With a newfound power, the guagoa lifted both of his fists into the air before smashing the ground in front of him. Iris quickly activated shackles off but the beastman expertly ceased upon her momentary weakness.
Raging white sparks appeared as the risen's body moved her weapon to protect her from the impossibly quick attack. She watched her Hit Points plunge as the force of the attack broke her bones. A human would have been killed but the risen quickly disengaged letting her regeneration snap her bones into place. Five daggers suddenly appeared in the elf's peripheral vision as the monstrous demi-human swiped upwards, cutting one of Iris's amethyst eyes. Dago gave her a smile that would have been quite seductive if not made by a hideous beast before approaching her with an unhurried stride.
"Mmmmm... deathwalker?" The master of the pack closed his small yellow eyes as he smelled the air for the scent of fresh blood with a disturbing amount of pleasure showing on his face before dropping in mood as he stared at Iris with wide-open eyes causing a whisper to permeate in the beastmen behind him.
His brown fur disappeared from Iris's sight in a fireball which violently rocked the air around them. Kia mirrored the elf's frown as the guagoa picked up speed completely unharmed.
The guagoa stopped to look down at the horn which began to glow as the unnatural wind stopped as black smoke gathered between her fingers. The crack of lighting filled the air which caused most of the demi-humans to step back except Dago whose flat-laying ears perked up.
Iris's voice was drowned by the rippling black lighting heading toward the guagoa. Kia's mouth and eyes opened in shock as she swayed with the wind as saw the black lighting disappeared and between each long stiff hair in Dago's hide black arcs of energy appeared.
"Dagorachi horde is the greatest!" The guagoa pointed his finger at Iris, the black energy seeping away from his body and toward his right hand's pointing finger where the thick grey claw's curve was filed away.
Suddenly the world began to shake violently as the ground began to rumble. Dago's face dropped in fear as his eyes were glued on the ground below him similar to some of the demi-humans.
Most of the beastmen watched with confusion their leader letting the death walker run to her companion and running away from him.
"Ashen Sky. What the fuck is this?" Iris cradling the shocked undead in her arms fell into the grass as the ground where she had dueled with the demi-human disappeared between the teeth of a massive creature.
[Inspect]
[Crystal Wyrm Level 5400]
{"God of the Depths"}
A worm-like creature covered with scales shimmering in hundreds of different colours in the sunlight towered above everything like an ever-growing mountain. The roaring fires started in the engagement turned into long serpentine columns of black smoke twisted around by the violent air currents created by the ever-growing mountain began to rip blades of grass and send them into the sky. The wyrm's body slowly tilted to the side as its head reached the height of five hundred meters, causing Iris's body to jump upward as its impossibly long body hit the earth again.
The wyrm's lower body formed an arch as it quickly disappeared back into the earth as suddenly as it appeared.
The elf only dared to move a single muscle as the earth stopped vibrating. She opened her mouth to ask if the girl had summoned the divine creature but the undead mage shifted her wide-open eyes onto Iris, where she saw; shock, confusion, fear, and awe.