Nymin was only half recovered, but that fact hadn’t even occurred to her when she sensed a massive group of city guards approaching Dyani. She shot through earth and stone towards them, only slowing when she sensed her daughter successfully evade their forward group.
She was scared and angry, but not so emotional that she would throw her life or freedom away with an unconsidered attack. Surrounding her core with the strongest veil she could manage, she positioned herself close enough to hear the barked orders of their commanding officer.
“But, Sergeant Emberland, what about the Billbrook boy?”
“Son, do you know what that is? It’s a level 3, untethered mana node and if that wasn’t enough, it’s right on the edge of stabilizing and dumping a horde of monsters in the middle of the city. We can worry about our great city lord’s order to kidnap a couple of random children after we do our actual job which, I’ll remind you, is protecting the people of Root Perch.”
Instead of immediately going after the kids, the man was prioritizing dealing with the threat of the untethered mana node.
It was enough to cause Nymin to hesitate.
Sergeant Emberland clearly didn’t agree with his orders. Perhaps there was an opportunity to negotiate a safer means of escaping the city, instead of going through with their desperate plan of traveling through the mana node.
For now, she would wait, recover further, and watch for any sign he would turn against Dyani and Pikawon. If he didn’t, perhaps they could talk.
If he did, she’d keep them safe at any cost.
***
Dyani winced as she leapt to her feet, but now that the needles were gone, she could move without slicing up her leg.
Pikawon charged toward the overhang where hydra heads were poking up into view. He sliced through four necks in quick succession, but was surprised when the three of them with the white scaled heads of False Hydras retained enough life to fall upon him and coil around his body. He staggered back, nearly falling off the small flat area the hydra had originally claimed as a roost.
“The edge!” Dyani shouted, moving to intercept her friend, but even distracted by the attention of three severed snake heads, he understood well enough to fall to his knees and avoid falling to his death.
Several more heads peaked over the edge, but Dyani blasted them with Feverchill Bloom, freezing and burning them. Those heads fell limb, but she doubted they were actually dead.
She moved towards Pikawon again, but once again, her intervention wasn’t needed.
A blast of concentrated wind hit Pikawon, who dug his claws into the root to stay in place. The hydra heads weren’t so lucky. They flew off him and sailed down to splash into sewage below.
Dyani and Pikawon both looked for the source of the attack. A guard in one of the alcoves gave them a quick nod before pulling back their outstretched hand and retreating behind a pair of shields.
Around a third of the alcoves were now occupied.
“That’s the right of it,” shouted the same man who’d given the orders to the guards to take their positions, “Fire at will, alternate sides as possible to keep it confused.”
Skills, arrows, and even a few throwing knives sailed towards the hydra, who switched its attention from hunting Pikawon and Dyani to attacking in turn.
Dyani was extremely grateful that the hydra was so focused on offense, and didn’t have any apparent magical defensive abilities, only tough scales.
Most of the guard’s attacks did little more than annoy the monster, but that was good enough for Dyani.
“Let’s retreat, get up and out of the way.” She had to shout over the sudden cacophony of magic.
Pikawon looked hesitant, and suspicion of their enemies turned allies, but nodded in assent.
She reached out her arms to grab him and jump, but he shook his head and jumped onto a root. He didn’t bother shouting, opting instead to send her a message.
Pikawon Billbrook: Save your mana. We’re going to need it.
Dyani wasn’t sure that was true. There were more than enough combat capable adults around that she doubted they would be needed at all. It rankled her a little to give up her prey to others, but seeing her mother take an injury she was still recovering from and seeing that man struck with the same power fall, break, and get consumed by the Mountain Oak’s root was enough to temper her confidence.
She could still hear the sound of the guard’s cracking bones ringing in her ears.
Pikawon started climbing and Dyani followed close behind. They tried to climb without using mana, only cheating with their skills when there were no safe handholds or when they lost their grip.
Dyani was sure the hydra would’ve followed them, if it wasn’t kept occupied by the storm of ranged attacks. With the pair out of the way, the guards began attacking more vigorously, in bursts from alternating directions. Their defenders blocked any counter attacks with their shields, while unseen mages dispersed any poisonous fumes with blasts of wind.
The fight had transformed from a dangerous, difficult slog to a near certain victory.
***
Sergeant Emberland grimaced. This whole situation was a disaster. He had stalled the search for the Tree Beast Lord’s little pet as much as possible, wasting time and resources on district-wide searches that looked impressive, but turned up nothing. But there was only so much he could do, since he was only in charge of one team.
He was prepared to catch the wraith, in fact he’d already made the necessary preparations to do so, but he drew the line at kidnapping children.
He glanced to the side, where the woozy, one-armed Howi swayed on his feet. Emberland had been hesitant to bring the man, after he’d lost his arm to the wraith’s unknown ally, but his high level skills, and the talent that allowed him to use them, even at his low level, meant he was too valuable to leave behind.
Still, he didn’t envy the man, even ignoring the dismemberment. The spiritual strain from his talent, which allowed Howi to exceed his maximum mana with any mana from external sources, such as potions, was bad enough. Doing so twice in one day, once at the recycling plant, and once a few minutes ago on Emberland’s own orders, would require at least a week of recovery with specialized healing.
Emberland couldn’t explain the necessity for drinking the mana potion now, not without tipping his hand to their hidden observer.
Everything was coming to a head. He couldn’t think of a way this situation could play out that would satisfy both his duty, his liege, and his sense of honor.
His people were doing reasonably well defending against the exploding mushrooms, poisonous clouds, and showers of needles, and the white snake heads hadn’t exhibited any ranged capabilities, besides picking up and throwing some of the hydra’s severed heads to flail haphazardly through the air. So far, only Chitto had died, and that was due to the man recklessly charging into an unknown situation more than anything.
In a way, the mana node was a stroke of luck, since it served as an apt excuse for ignoring the two kids. If they would just flee, like reasonable people, he could insist on finishing off the guardian and sealing the node before pursuing. That would give them at least a reasonable chance at escaping.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
All that was assuming all the guards would obey. While he trusted the men that regularly served under him, there were more than enough hotheads in this temporary force that valued the city lord’s gratitude more than obedience to their commanding officer.
That was proven true when a caster three alcoves to his left shot a pearl of opalescent, gray mana, not at the hydra, but several meters above the climbing kids.
The wraith, who still thought she was undetected, started to move. He was faster.
* Solar Wheel (Unique)
* Type: Conjuration, Artifact, Manipulation, Combination
* Affinity: Fire
* Range: Long
* Cost: Extreme Mana, High Stamina (Conjuration) / Low Mana (Manipulation)
* Effect: Conjures the Solar Wheel, which remains conjured until dispelled or the user dies. The Solar Wheel can take the form of a chakram (ring blade), or a ring that can be worn on the finger. The chakram will not cut the user unless desired.
* This weapon has a level equal to the user's level when it is conjured and must be dispelled and reconjured to advance in level.
* Wounds dealt by this weapon are cauterized and resist mundane and magical healing.
* This weapon can be manipulated while in flight for a low mana cost. It cannot be manipulated while stationary, other than being recalled to the user.
* This weapon can act as the origin point of compatible fire-based skills.
The ring on his finger expanded out into a chakram, a bladed ring, which he threw with practiced grace. The artifact, transformed into a skill by one of his talents, sliced through the air in a curving arch.
He intended to intercept the gray orb, but was forced to change target when the same purple snake head that killed Chitto charged up another one of its beams of dream mana and pointed itself at the man who’d cast that skill.
Emberland might be furious with the man for disobeying orders, but he wasn’t about to let him die. Even if his defenders successfully intercepted the attack, their Reinforce Shield skill was most effective against physical attacks and elemental mana. It was much less suited to defend against less tangible mana types, such as dream.
He compromised, using his conjured weapon as the origin point of another one of his skills.
* Flashbang (Common)
* Type: Attack, Area of Effect, Perception
* Affinity: Fire
* Range: Very Short
* Cost: Low Mana
* Effect: Creates a flash of light, sound, and heat. The user’s vision is protected from any generated light.
A minor explosion burst from the chakram, composed mostly of brilliant light. All around the chamber, guards cried out, joined by several of the hydra’s heads who’d been looking in that direction. One of the unaffected heads reached for another one of its severed heads to use as another, ineffective projectile.
With a flick of his hand, the chakram swerved through the air and decapitated that dazzled purple, snake head, which released its gathered dream mana in a disorganized flash that hurt no one.
Unfortunately, his true objective for using Flashbang, distracting the guard attacking the kids, was a failure. It had been a slim hope that blinding the guard would help, as many ranged attacks didn’t require further input from the caster. The gray orb continued on course and burst apart against a root, causing no damage. Instead, the orb exploded into a dense gray cloud, which shimmered with blue sparks of water mana.
A single drop of conjured water fell, then another, and another, until rain fell in a flood. He recognized the skill.
* Downpour (Common)
* Type: Conjuration, Area of Effect
* Affinity: Water
* Range: Medium
* Cost: Moderate Mana (Initial Cost) / Low Mana (Channeling Cost)
* Effect: Shoots a projectile that conjures a cloud when it strikes, or when desired by the user. The conjured cloud produces heavy rain as long as mana is channeled into the skill.
While not usually an attack skill, Downpour was still a good counter to anyone climbing unfriendly terrain.
The boy activated his claw blade skill, digging into the root to remain in place. The girl was less prepared. She slipped.
The wraith shot forward to save her daughter.
Emberland was inclined to let her, but Howi cried out at the sight of her, half in anger at the woman he viewed as responsible for his missing limb and half in relief that he no longer needed to keep a hold on his excess mana.
***
Time slowed, trapping Dyani in a column of rain so dense it felt more like a waterfall. By now, using Mana Jump to maneuver through the air was becoming second nature, but the water all around her made it difficult to see anything. She jumped anyway, splashing out of the downpour and into open air. She blinked rapidly to clear the water from her eyes.
The first thing she saw was her mother, flying forward while reaching out with both hands. On instinct, Dyani reached out a hand in return, but she was brought up short when a glove of coppery light shot out of the nearest alcove, straight for Nymin.
Sensing the skill coming, Nymin moved to dodge while letting out a concentrated wail towards it. The glove followed her motion and was undamaged by her cry, latching onto her arm. A line of light sprang up between Nymin and her unseen attacker, arresting her forward motion like a leash. Dyani had never seen that level of violence on her mother’s face, not even while they fought a monster out of her father’s own stories.
Nymin gave Dyani one last look, her hateful expression parting momentarily to display a flash of worry and love before returning in full force. Nymin took the line of mana in her hands and yanked, using it to pull herself towards whatever unlucky soul had conjured it.
While the moment felt frozen to her, Dyani was still falling, but she was still out of range of the hydra’s gnashing heads, which made it all the more alarming when her arm was caught in a set of fang filled jaws.
The stabbing pain broke her out of her shock, and she turned to see how she’d been caught. A False Hydra head was clamped around her arm, nearly up to the elbow, but it wasn’t using its retractable rows of teeth to swallow her and its eyes were lifeless and dull.
Her eyes traced down the creature’s neck and she saw that it ended in a severed stump, a stump which was being pulled inexorably down a living head’s throat.
The Evolved False Hydra was more intelligent than any of them expected. She’d seen the monster throwing a few of its severed heads, but hadn’t imagined it using one to extend its range.
She considered jumping away, but there were more than a dozen teeth embedded deep in her arm. Even if she successfully pulled herself free, she wouldn’t have much of an arm left.
Instead, Dyani used Mana Jump to slow her fall. Even slowed, the sudden halt when the neck went taught pulled her arm out of its socket. She only stopped herself from screaming by biting her tongue. Blood filled her mouth and trickled down her arm.
She swung back and forth like a festival banner in a light breeze as the monster reeled her in.
***
When he sensed Dyani fall, Pikawon had the urge to leap after her, but stopped himself. She was better suited to recovering from a fall than he was. The only thing he would accomplish by following was getting in the way.
As swiftly as it started, the rain petered out. Not trusting the caster, Pikawon looked up at the dark gray cloud that had produced the water, which was dissipating into motes of blue mana, which vanished in turn.
Satisfied that the rainfall was truly over, not just suspended to catch him off guard, Pikawon looked around for his friend, but the first person he noticed was not Dyani, but her mother. Nymin had a line of metallic, orange light around her arm, which extended through the chamber’s stone wall, to intersect with the first alcove where the city guards had appeared. Moving faster than Pikawon had ever seen her move, she zipped out of the chamber, along the magical tether.
He guessed it was some kind of containment or trap magic, but he wasn’t sure.
Continuing his search, he became more and more concerned that he couldn’t find Dyani, with his eyes or his magical senses. The latter wasn’t too surprising, since his effective sensory range was diminished by the ambient mana, which had only grown more chaotic with so many different skills on display.
With dread in his heart, he looked straight down.
His worst fear was that Dyani had smashed against the stone like that first guard the Mountain Oak had sucked up one of its roots. What he actually saw wasn’t much better. In a terrible display of ingenuity, the hydra had used one of its own heads to extend its reach, like a morbid whip. She was dangling from it, bleeding from her trapped arm.
She looked up, and met his eyes. At least she was alive. Her face was a storm of pain, fear, and anger, but she had enough presence of mind to bare her teeth in an expression that was as much a grimace as a smile.
As he watched, more and more False Hydra necks wrapped around the one that was swallowing the severed neck with Dyani on the end. They were more than just protection for that head. With each new neck, the swallowing speed of the central head increased as it drew strength from the rest.
“Drag and Drop,” Pikawon said to himself, ripping his claws out of the root. Once again, he fell, but this time he had less distance to gather momentum. He only had enough force to cut through a single one of the coiled together necks, before rolling away from the hydra along a flat section of gnarled roots.
Even with the roll to disperse some of his momentum, the breath was knocked from his lungs. Still, he knew better than to remain still with a monster so close. He pushed himself to the side, just barely avoiding three of the Tanglepillar head’s last few needle hairs.