Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty - 280
The Reforged thundered through the undergrowth, paying little heed to things like trees and hillocks or the cloying mix of ice fog and woodsmoke. They swept their ice-shaped weapons in grand arcs, delivering destruction upon the green valley even as it burned alive. Yet despite their great Strength and Endurance, their size and their fury, they could not touch Vessilia Dayne.
"RUAAAH!"
Dragoon's Footwork!
An axe bigger than her entire body slammed sideways into a tree, but Vess was simply not there. The steps of her movement Skill had her flicker before the ice warrior's perceptions, there and gone, and the giant could only rage impotently.
Evie also danced around her opponents, though she faced two Hoarhounds as well as one of the Reforged. Her new chain proved its mettle as it tore into the hounds, flensing flesh from bone and metal with every rotation, but it did not stop the remade creatures. The Hoarhounds were as fast as the Reforged were strong, and worse they operated in packs and used tactics. Were it not for the mages, Evie would have died within minutes of their first engagement.
"Imbued Sparkbolt!"
"Grand Impetus!"
Crimson flame and a cobalt lance of power came from opposite ends of the fight, but each one found the legs of a hound, fouling their steps and sending them sprawling. The fire even dropped them into squealing bouts of pain, something that the blazing forest couldn't do. Ice may be their element originally, but the creatures all seemed inured to normal flames. More hounds lunged forward, snapping for the mages, but a trio of blue pillars from the sky drove their bellies to the earth.
"Thanks Al!" Evie shouted mid-air, already between the tree trunks. "I got the dogs! Can you two kill the big guy?"
"I have it," Atar said. His curls were tumbled over his forehead and slick with sweat, but there was nothing but determination in his eyes as a crown of molten flame ignited above his head. "Crown of Ignis! Imbued Sparkbolt!"
No less than twenty orbs of fire spun out of his crown, zipping toward the Reforged in a volley of light. The former giant screamed in agony as it's body was wracked with an explosive firestorm.
Focus on your own fight!
Vess stepped into the wild swing of the ice warrior, using two of her floating spears to deflect it up and into another charred tree trunk. The woods were thick and close, despite the razing hunger of the wildfire. She thrust her partisan in a flurry of strikes, each one fouled by the beast's icy armor, but her Strength was not to be denied. Cracks crazed the ice of its form, worn ever thinner by the intensity of Atar's fields of flame.
Spear of Tribulations!
More spears were conjured around her, manifesting in a tight net above her head. They blocked the Reforged's first strike and parried the second before the giant's enormous Strength sent the lot of them flying outward. Vess grunted in pained surprise, but wasted no time. Tethered to her Will, they spun back around, each of her seven spears surging forward to rejoin the battle
and tangled in trees and brush, held a breath too long to block the Reforged's next attack. Vess dove desperately aside, caught flatfooted by her Skill's failure. The blow sundered the well-packed dirt and ancient flagstone beneath their feet, opening a small chasm that crackled with remnant frost.
"RUAAAHH!" The Reforged screamed at her, full of spittle and fetid breath. Its innards smelled of rot and putrefaction, neatly curdling Vess' stomach. "DIE!"
It flipped its axe into an overhand chop, too stupid to know its end. Vess darted forward and aside, flaring her Dragoon's Footsteps and Pierce the Sky so that the weight of their might rested behind her spear. She closed in, too fast to avoid, too deadly to survive.
Snicker-snack.
Her spear took it's head.
You Have Killed a Reforged!
XP Earned!
"Vess! Help!" Alister hollered, his voice rising in a panic. Through the smoke and ice fog, she saw two more Reforged join against the mages, and Evie still hadn't defeated the Hoarhounds.
Tch. She gathered her spears to her again, careful to maneuver them around the tangled growth on all sides, before leaping high up into the air. Her Skills were designed to be used mid-air, among the skies, not snarled upon the earth. Here the silver-seeming spears, crafted from the very winds, soared.
Dragon's Descent!
Hurtling downward, Vess' form flickered with streamers of green-white vapor. They burst from the tip of her partisan, chased along the edges of its hidden array, spiralling outward until they enveloped her completely. Her Seven Steps of the Dragoon guided the air Mana instinctively, No longer a Human warrior, nor a Dragoon, but a judgement sent from on high.
The verdict was death.
Pierce the Sky is level 59!
Spear of Tribulations is level 70!
Dragon's Descent is level 57!
You Have Killed a Reforged!
XP Earned!
You Have Gained A Level!
You Are Now Level 45!
You Have 3 Unused Stat Points!
Without pausing, Vess dumped all two points into Strength and the last into Willpower. Vibrant, white-green energy flooded her mountainous core space, filling the skies with light and power as her muscles grew just a touch denser. She whipped her partisan into a horizontal slash. The leaf-shaped blade met icy club and reboundedbut so did the Reforged.
"Evie! Now!"
"Reap the Maelstrom!"
Her best friend's chain, spiked and bladed, spun and rotating in ways too fast for Vess' Perception to follow. It howled through the air, snapping fire-ravaged trees and Hoarhound legs in equal measure. With a ripple of movement, Evie sent the chain hurtling toward the remaining three Reforged. They went down, legs swept, and grisly wounds opened across their thighs and calves.
"Raze!"
Twin bolts of silver fire dropped from above, and a vast presence unveiled itself. Harn, armored and impervious-looking, unleashed the full force of his Spirit, stunning the fallen Reforged. Before they could recover he landed, and the blazing light of his metal Mana cut all three of them to the quick.
They were dead before he stood back up.
"...where'd you come from?" Atar asked, looking up. Vess followed his gaze, only to find an expanse of dark wings patterned with crimson.
"You got ahead of me. Pit came back and gave me a lift," Harn said. He jerked his silver axes from the ancient flagstones beneath themthey'd sunken down to the haft. "Dropped me off."
"Dropped youfrom how high?" Atar asked.
"Dunno. Wasn't countin'." Harn looked around. "There are more. That way. They heard the fight."
"Good, that was the point," Evie panted. She was fast, but her Endurance needed work.
Reforged were strong, but dumb. Their Minds...Vess was beginning to sense snapped threads to their beings. All of those she had faced felt incomplete, torn. Like a ship ripped free from it's moorings, leaving gaping holes in its hull where once meaning and identity resided.
"Do you sense the Wurms?" The Reforged had almost no grasp of tactics, not by themselves. She was thinking the Wurms acted as their minders when there was no Arcid present. They'd yet to see a single Wurm, however.
Pit squawked as he swooped above them. As before, when he'd communicated with them, it was more than a squawk to her Affinity. It was the tenku's Spirit, singing out toward her, packets of sense memories thrumming across the invisible threads that connected all things.
Felix killed all Wurms. First tunnel safe. Second in danger.
"Noctis' tits," Evie cursed. Vess winced inwardly at the blasphemy. "Dunno if I'm gonna get used to hearing a bird talk."
"Doesn't Zara have that familiar of hers?" Alister asked, but no one paid attention to him.
"I heard nothing," Atar said. "How come you did?"
"I'm special," Evie said, batting her eyes at the mage.
"Wurms are dead. Felix took care of them," Vess translated for the others. "First group of Henaari are safe, but the second is having problems. Danger."
"Bet that's where the Arcid is," Alister said.
"Not takin' that wager," Harn grunted. "Boy draws the strong like moths to a flame."
"Moths get burnt up that way," Atar noted.
"They do, don't they."
"I am counting down!" Number 55597 warned with a flare of heat, but the tunnel was silent. Save, perhaps, for the hitched whisper of muffled sobbing. Pathetic. "When I reach zero, I shall be burning all that you are! Fire of such incredible strength will flood your tunnel, one that I know is blocked, and that will be the end of you! If you come, now, this instant, I will be merciful. In exchange for telling me the location of your leaders, I will only kill the weakest among you."
More sobbing. Ugh. The Master had demanded the nomads' deaths, and he would deliver them. Finding them had been difficult. They were more elusive than the chimeranot that he'd seen any. Regardless, if the Henaari had wanted to survive, they wouldn't have killed his patrol and left their stinking blood behind. Hoarhounds, even the altered ones, were excellent trackers.
Still, the silence and the sobbing continued. 55597 let a rumble start in his cavernous metal chest.
"Fine!" He'd changed his mind. There would be no counting for these pathetic wretches. Fire Mana gathered in the empty chambers of the Arcid's chest, igniting its low burn with a magnificent swell of energy and power. "Choose death, then!"
He could find the Farwalker without their help.
Pyroclast!
Just as the Mana of his Master-forged Skill reached the cusp of release, a slab of thick, obdurate stone burst from the ground before the Arcid. It blocked his access to the tunnel almost completely!
"Wh-what is this!?" He whirled, his thick, powerful limbs slamming into the earth. "Who dares block one of the chosen?"
At the far end of his servants, a lone Human appeared from the accumulating woodsmoke. The Arcid was as disgusted as he was confused. A Human was a base mortal. Weak, but many. Yet this one was alone. It didn't even attempt to armor itself, paltry though such efforts would be. Instead the Human was bare of limb and wearing cloth of all things.
Two weapons glinted at its side, however. At the very least, it thought itself a threat. 55597 would have to disabuse it of that notion.
"Human. Why do"
"Arcid. You're all kinda jerks, huh?"
The Human spoke out of turn, off-hand, and it insulted him! The Arcid could not let a single one of those insults stand, and he vented his rage. Twin plumes of fire shot to either side of him, setting more brush aflame. "You wander alone into my presence, and insult me? Do you know who I am? Who I represent?!"
"Yes, no, and yes," the interloper said. "In that order. I mean, I know your number. 55597 right? Kinda bland." He spread open his disgusting, fleshy arms. "Plus, you're kinda weak, huh? 55389 was a lot tougher."
The Arcid's eyes, twin fires in their own right, narrowed. "How do you know that designation? Who are you?"
"You don't know? I figure you would. Archon must not like you," the Human said. Its voice was disgustingly smug, and it just about sneered at him. Him!
"The Master trusts me more than all others! Who else would be tasked with ridding his lands of the Henaari pests?" Number 55597 drew himself up, pushing out his burning chest. "None of the others were even considered to hunt them down!" Then his eye fires widened. "How do you know the Master's name?"
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," the Human said.
"And if you do not, I'll kill you where you stand," the Arcid threatened. No, promised!
The Human shrugged. "You can try."
Of a sudden, stone spikes shot from the earth on every side of the Arcid's force. The spikes stabbed through many of the Hoarhounds' heads, killing them instantly, and those that dodged were followed. The spikes bent and twisted. In less than a moment, all of the Hoarhounds were dead.
"Huh," the Human said. He seemed surprised. "That was easier than I thought."
"KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW!" The Arcid was already charging, filling its chest with a raging, infernal heat. It roared to life, a living flame that melted the rocks around him into puddles of magma. "BREAK HIM!"
Gargantuan, metallic-edged screams shook the tunnel, and a sudden, terrible heat bore down on the huddle group of Henaari. Yet, for some reason, the heat did not bloom into flame.
"What is happening?"
"Has the monster fled? Captain Eskr?"
"II don't know," the captain said. His nerves were as shot as all the rest, though he tried to hold onto the dignity of his people. "Perhaps we should"
There was an abrupt slamming to the side of the gathered Henaari, and without warning an entire portion of the tunnel collapsed again. Except, instead of cutting them off as the Wurms had done previously, there was a rush of cool, musky air as a new shaft appeared beside them. From the darkness of its mouth, a welcome figure appeared.
"Come with me if you want to live," A'zek said.
Though ferocious-looking, the entire group brightened immediately. Cries of "Farwalker" and "Companion" lilted through the passage, and the harnoq had to encourage speed and silence multiple times.
"Move. Faster. The death you avoided still survives. Run!" A'zek hissed the last, striking at the floor with his barbed tail in emphasis. The Henaari took the words seriously and began to hustle, until they were loping down the curiously smooth tunnel he'd traversed.
"You made a tunnel for us?" Captain Eskr was confounded. He never knew the chimera had such a Skill. "Raven preserve us. How much Mana did this take?"
A'zek regarded the Captain of the Dawnguard with a single, earth-toned eye. "I did not make this. It is the plan of another, one which I do not approve."
"Another...?"
The harnoq sped down the tunnel, forcing the captain to keep up. Yet even as they ran, he did not miss that the opening to their tunnel had somehow, seamlessly sealed itself closed.
"Then how?"
"Questions are for the living. Run. One day, you may hear the answer," A'zek said, before blurring forward too quickly for the captain's Perception to follow.
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