Seven days had come and gone since they left the village. More of a city really, with so many minotaurs and other tribes slowly coming to the safe haven. Still, Trillia had learned a lot in those seven days. Watching non-combatants fight - or at least what her tribe considered non-combatants - was...astonishing really. She had nothing to base it on, but the alchemists and herbalists were just efficient.
There were almost no wasted movements. Popping a wax seal, dropping in some fire herb spice. A little swirl and toss. BOOM! Shards of glass and flame in a thirty-foot area. If something did close in, daggers coated in all manner of poison rained down on whatever creature happened to close. Trillia better understood why her mother trained her so brutally. If this is what a non-combatant looked like, Trillia was eager to see what an actual warrior did.
The sun was starting to set. Trillia knew that meant another three or four hours of walking before a full stop for the evening. A trill whistle caused everyone to halt. In the distance was a swarm of fifteen or so [Megapedes]. Trillia took a deep breath, steeling herself for the battle to come. Her mother, Amara, turned to look at them all.
"Girls, get ready. There is a baby amongst the swarm. It's level twenty-seven. Close to evolving into an adult, but it should serve as the perfect fight for the two of you. No one else is to interfere in their fight. I will be the sole judge of the danger they are in. If anyone tries to interfere I will stop you by force. I'll give you both two minutes to get ready. The swarm will be upon us by that time."
Trillia felt Amelia take her hand, giving it a little squeeze of encouragement. The two quickly checked each other's armor to ensure no straps were loose. Quite familiar with the process, as the two were often inseparable. Next was to ensure their weapons could easily be slid from sheaths or the metal rings that held Amelia's hammer at her side. Their resources topped off, the two young warriors in the making walked to the front of the pack. The Swarm was only a hundred feet away by now.
Amara looked them over and nodded.
"Remember...fight like your life depends on it. I will stop you from dying. I won't stop you from losing an arm, or an eye. Cover for one another, this is going to be a brutal fight, and it's going to hurt. You can cry after. Don't be ashamed of wanting to throw up and cry after the battle. Every damn warrior I've ever met, myself included. Lost our lunches and bawled like children after our first real combat. It's that terrifying, but during the fight, you need to push that down into your gut. You need to watch out for your party members, you need to survive to enjoy a good cry."
The girls nodded once more, gripping the hilts of their weapons tightly. Amara turned to the swarm, now only fifty or so feet from them. The system notified everyone of what happened.
Warning! You're in the Presence of the Grand Chieftain, you are immobilized by fear!
You are too weak to break this effect, it will last until the source is stopped, or chooses to stop.
[Adamant Resolve] Level 0 obtained!
You have come face to face with an overwhelming threat and lived to tell the tale! Lucky you! This skill will in time, help you overcome and fight off the effects of hostile auras of overwhelming power.
Trillia wanted to smile at the skill, but couldn't move. The other alchemists shuffled uncomfortably, probably having a much higher level of that skill. Or maybe a better version of it? Trillia and Amelia, however, were held in place, looking out at the approaching swarm.
Trillia watched as her mother moved calmly and gracefully forward, various weapons appearing in her hands. Amara tossed each into the air, where the hung in the air for a few seconds before taking on a faint red glow. The swarm hadn't moved. Frozen in place like Trillia and Amelia were. Amara raised her hands to the sides. The weapons then seemed to take on a life of their own.
It took seven seconds. Trillia counted. Seven seconds from when she was immobilized, to when every single [Megapede] was dead. Except for one small level twenty-seven child. Amara's weapons flew, two-by-two, back into Amara's waiting hands, where they simply vanished again. Most of them had been spears or swords. Amara turned back to the two young girls. Trillia noticed that her mother's eyes held a bright red glow, full of mana.
As the glow faded, Amara motioned for them to step forward. They felt the pressure of her aura vanish. They both heard a screech as the baby megapede saw the carnage around it and knew it was going to die. A primal fear had gripped it.
"Kill it quickly, lest its rage forces an early evolution."
The two girls hesitated for a second, a mistake they'd suffer for. Despite looking like a centipede, they did not fight like them. The [Megapede] rolled up into a ball and flew at them, at speeds the girls didn't think possible. They dived out of the way at the last second, off balance and not on their feet. The megapede unrolled rapidly, using that momentum to swing its head at Amelia.
Another difference, Trillia noticed, was that it didn't have just normal feet. Even this 'baby' was nearly thirty feet long, dozens of feet that ended in that could only be described as daggers. Amara's voice cut through the panic.
"It's closer to being an adult than I thought! Watch out for acid!"
As if on cue, the head that was aimed at Amelia spewed a greenish-yellow viscous liquid out. Amelia scrambled away best she could, and some of the liquid landed on her leg. Trillia nearly froze again at the scream of agony coming from her friend. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and let her mother handle it. But Trillia knew that wasn't going to happen.
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"[Mentor's Skill: Restorative Chant]!"
As the flesh burned away, it was slowly mended by the spell. Trillia watched as Amelia got her feet under her, pulling her Minstrel's Mallet out. Trillia quickly got to her feet, brandishing her rapier. Now that it was close to them, it didn't roll up in a ball to speed at them. Instead, whenever it moved, a wave-like motion went through it's body. Anytime it's legs weren't touching the ground, it was using the momentum of it's movement to swing it's dagger-like legs at the girls, even now a half dozen blades had been whipped out towards Amelia.
Amelia brought her weapon above her head, swinging down at an angle toward the legs, slapping most of them aside. The attacks not completely parried were turned to glancing strikes by the force of the blow. As the megapede spun to attack Trillia, Amelia bellowed and with surprising speed, spun and slammed the hammer down on one of the legs, smashing the dagger deep into the ground with a sickening crunch.
Trillia fared a little better. As the creature's legs swung toward her, her small stature let her duck under most of them. The movement brought her toward the creature's underbelly in a crouch. Pulling her right hand in, with her feet stable under her, she sprang up with her legs. Her right hand shot forward with the rapier. Her strike landed true, poking a small hole into the underside of the megapede's carapace. A green liquid slowly oozed out.
Trillia's elation was immediately swept aside. The creature rose up before her, moving as if it was going to give her Alirast's most deadly hug. She couldn't help but let out a little squeak, trying to quickly hop backward. The creature used its lanky body to slam forward, three legs leaving slices in Trillia's back. Now it was her turn to cry out in pain. The force of the blows was enough to knock her to the ground, and she quickly scrambled further away.
Tears burned in her eyes, the feeling of warmth was deceptive with how much pain was on her back. She tried to use a restorative chant on herself, but couldn't get the words out, couldn't focus. Her vision blurred further, she could only run. She did, toward her best friend. Somewhere in all of it, she heard words, she couldn't make out from where, or from who. But she felt another type of warmth flow through her, and the pain in her shoulder lessened.
The two girls now stood side by side, both shaken and trembling. Amelia put her lips to the opening of her mallet and pushed out mana and air.
You're now under the effects of [Berserker's Bane] for the next 5 minutes!
Trillia didn't take the time to look at what the skill did, Amelia had used it before when they were training for just this fight. Trillia's nerves calmed almost immediately, and her vision cleared. The fear welling up inside her was quashed by the [Minstrel]'s skill. Their enemy peered down at them, mouth opening once more.
This time the girls were ready. Both sprung to action, going opposite directions and quickly getting up close and to the sides of the creature. It couldn't point its mouth directly down and to the side so quickly, so the acid sprayed the ground trailing towards Trillia. Trillia responded by stabbing her rapier forward in what looked like a gap in the chitin. Once more her efforts were rewarded with another small hole leaking precious lifeblood.
Another sickening crunch from the other side, followed by another, then another, told Trillia that Amelia was breaking the thing's legs quickly and easily. Once more, however, the two were taken by surprise. The creature lunged forward and away, most of its body lifting off the ground, causing its legs to shoot out to the sides. Both girls suffered a half dozen cuts as the creature landed in a roll, ending a solid ten feet away.
The girls regrouped, using restorative chants on one another. Their hands were now slick with blood, making holding their weapons more difficult. Both had used about half of their stamina and thirty or so percent of their mana. Their health was nearly topped off. But their opponent barely seemed to register the damage it had taken.
Trillia was the one to speak, breaking from Amelia and once more trying to pincer the creature.
"No more healing, not unless we are below half."
Amelia nodded before shouting back.
"Less reactive dodging, more preemptive movements. If our stamina bottoms out we're dead."
The two girls closed in from each side. This time the creature tried to maneuver itself out of the pincer, but the girls kept the pressure on. Trillia came in with a series of rapid stabs. The megapede's head was finally low enough to the ground for Trillia to strike it, her many thrusts aimed at the creature's mouth, wanting to disable its acidic breath attack.
Amelia had gotten behind the creature - as behind such a thing as you could get. Drawing a dagger she took a risk. jumping onto the creature's body. She held the dagger in place between some of the chitinous plates, before taking her mallet and slamming it down. The creature's movements made it difficult to do, however, and the strike wasn't entirely true. The dagger slammed up to the hilt into the creature, but Amelia felt the bone in her thumb crack.
Amelia's body went slightly limp as the pain washed over her and she tumbled off the side of the creature. Trillia saw Amelia fall, and worry shot across her face. Four daggers slashed across her chest, one across her face, as she hesitated seeing her friend in such a sorry state. The force of the attack threw Trillia backward. Her health had gone from nearly full, to about ten percent in that one attack. Pain threatened to swallow her whole.
Her vision blurred, her mind raced with a million thoughts, and she could feel her life draining away by the second. Her chest visibly heaved with every breath as her heart pumped in fear, causing the blood to flow even more freely than before. Trillia tried to draw in a breath to steady herself, but the action only caused more pain, more agony. Little orc hands dug into the dirt, slowly pushing herself to her knees, choking out a restorative chant. It only prolonged the inevitable. Trillia's eyes came into focus to see a river of her own blood flowing toward the creature.
She wanted to scream for help. She wanted to ask the others to jump in. Why wasn't her mother helping them? They had obviously lost. Trillia watched as three of the dagger-like legs slashed across Amelia's back, drawing another agonized cry from her best friend and mentor. The pain was too much for the minotaur to bare, and her weapon fell to the ground.
Trillia tried to summon courage, she tried to push herself forward, and slowly one wobbly leg found footing. Pushing a frame far too small for such a heavy fight to bear, further up. Her right hand groped at the dirt around her before it found her rapier's hilt. She wouldn't let Amelia die. Trillia didn't understand why her mother wasn't helping, or why the others weren't helping. A glance at the side showed her mother standing there, arms crossed, a stoic expression on her face. Mort was doubled over as if something had struck him in the stomach. Fear crept into the back of Trillia's little mind. No one was coming to help them.