How long do you think they've been here? I asked Kalia. At least a week, maybe two. It takes time to set these traps up, and there are a lot of them, she replied, dismembering a pair of Thran who hardly knew what hit them.
"I'll handle the traps," Mom called out, waving her hand for the others to take a few steps back. "Ooooh no. No, no, no!" Balgrim's voice rose behind me, as if he already knew what to expect. I could feel the surge of mana rippling through the air, as a massive wave careened along the path, exploding and triggering well over a hundred traps along its trajectory.
"F-Fucking hells," Ed gasped, watching the golden wave carve out chunks of the mountainside as well. "They don't call her Commander for nothing, it seems," he said through a nervous chuckle. "Noooope," I grinned proudly. "I know I should have asked this before, but who are the other two?" Meliss asked, gesturing to Kalia and Devyr, who were making quick work of the Thran who'd survived Mom's blast, while the others kept an eye out for any movement.
I'm just glad Athar is still able to fight in his condition, I thought idly as he severed the head of one of the Thran crawling away from him.
"Those two are Kalia and Devyr. They're elves, under Mo-... Siraye's command," I caught myself, but got a suspicious glance from Ed regardless. "They're incredibly efficient," Meliss said, observing their movements closely as if she were trying to learn something from them. "You should see them when they're genuinely trying," I chuckled, giving the area a quick look.
We were somewhere to the north of Narin, that much I knew, but since the entire Island was covered in mountains and cliffs, it was difficult to know precisely where. Thankfully, we were still just below the snow line, so there was only a bit of mud on the path.
Well, that and a score of severed limbs.
"Are you three alright?" Ysevel asked the others just behind me. "We're fine, but are these the same kind of creatures you guys found on your way to Narin?" Ed asked, his eyes widening at the realization of just how formidable these creatures were. "Yes, though this may not have been all of them," Mom added, flicking the blood from her blade in a swift arc as she came toward us.
She's right. Reinforcements are likely to come soon after she destroyed the traps. Be ready, Kalia sent us, which I passed on to Irun and Athar with a knowing glance.
"We're gonna have to flip the carriage if we want to make it back before nightfall. It might be too dangerous to continue this mission," Balgrim noted, already working out the logistics of how to flip the massive, plated carriage in his mind. "Oh, we're just getting started," Mom said, causing him to flinch at her words. "W-We are?" he asked shakily.
Thoma, tell this idiot that we didn't come all this way just to be thwarted by zuresh, Kalia sent, mimicking fake hand signals to not rouse suspicion regarding how we were able to communicate. "Kalia's right. We have to keep going. There will be more coming, and these bastards need to die if you want to protect Narin from a full-force invasion," I said, loosely translating what she said so it was a little more digestible.
Balgrim's glance darted between us for a moment, but said nothing at the exchange. "F-Fine. But how are we supposed to fi-..." he cut himself off as a small rock clattered off the side of the carriage, prompting the rest of us to glance upward. "They're above us, aren't they?" Meliss muttered, her eyes widening at the prospect of there being more of the titanic beasts.
"Yep, and here they come," Irun snarled, drawing a large quantity of Vexing mana as well as over a hundred Thran prepared to slide or jump down from the cliff face.
How many do you think I can kill before they land? Mom asked with a wolfish grin. At least ten, maybe twenty? I replied, matching her grin and gripping my blade tightly. Without another word between us, I entered my fourth stage, while Ysevel, Devyr, and Kalia, who had realized our intentions, readied their weapons as well.
"Ed, Irun, Athar; protect Meliss the dwarves," I said, my now-golden eyes flaring brightly with mana. "F-Fourth stage?" he muttered before flinching away from the clumps of bloodied mud I left in my wake.
I tried my best to catch up to Mom as she dashed up the cliff face, but she was far too quick for me to do so. Instead, Ysevel, Devyr, and I peeled off to the left, while Kalia and Mom veered off to the right.
The Thran commander, wielding a pair of sharpened metal slabs for swords and a deep-set scar cutting diagonally across his wolfish face, roared for the others to attack us. I couldn't see his face, but I could almost feel Ed's surprise at our coordination and movements.
The first few Thran carreened toward us, howling and snarling as they descended the cliff, bounding from boulder to boulder, while the others and I did the same. However, Mom was already three steps ahead of the rest of us, painting a canvas of blood and limbs along her path toward the leader, while Kalia took on a score for her own.
I could see the excitement in his eyes as he watched her move toward him, but I don't think he fully knew what he was getting into.
However, I had my own problems to deal with, as the first Thran lunged at me spear-first. I summoned a blade of wind to sever the haft, which ended up taking a quarter of its forearm with it. It roared in agony, but still tried to take my head off with its massive remaining claw. I responded accordingly by bringing my blade up in time to catch it, splitting it along its length like cutting a cucumber in half.
The creature, fully off balance, hit the ground below with a squelching thud. I heard it, but I was already busy fighting the next pair that came at me. The first swung his axe at my neck, which I only narrowly avoided, but used the momentum to cut deeply into its torso, spilling its guts onto the boulder beneath my feet.
The other came barrelling down with twin dagger-like blades swung over its shoulder, then arced them to send its body into a spiral. Unsure of what else to do, I slammed the ball of my foot into the cliff face to send a few spikes of stone to see if it would stop it, but the blades were so sharp and heavy that the Thran sliced right through them with minimal effort.
Shit, that's not good, I thought, weighing my options in the few heartbeats I had left.
As the spiraling creature came for me, I realized there was something I hadn't used in a long time.
Just like old times, right Ed? I thought, preparing my Whip of Doom technique, he'd so adequately named all those years ago.
I flicked my free hand back, infusing my self-made spell with far more mana than I really needed for it, and launched it at the creature, catching a handful of others as it chained from creature to creature. I was grateful to see that my improved Whip had halted the creature's spinning, but the sheer look of befuddlement and fear on its face was priceless.
Instead of flicking my finger to ignite the whip, I infused it with flame attribute mana, allowing it to race along the length of the Whip and compress it as much as I could. With a quick release of the pressurized mana, it turned those who were caught in my spell into little more than pink, fuzzy mist. "Heh, not bad," I muttered, racing toward another set of creatures that had come over the edge.
On my way up, I'd noticed that only a few had managed to slip past us, but I was confident Irun and Athar would be more than sufficient to take care of them. Ysevel and Devyr, once again, were almost dancing with each other along the cliff. The two of them were little more than streaks of violet mana as each one's strikes complemented the other's, raining blood and entrails along their combined paths.
As I was reaching my next foothold, I felt the entire mountainside shaking along with an explosion of mana that couldn't have come from anyone else, other than Mom.
Having fun up there? I sent with a mental chuckle. Abso-fucking-lutely. This guy's a real treat to fight, she said, her tone almost ravenous. I could tell by her tone that she was merely toying with him to gauge these creatures' strength for herself. Still, we had a job to do, and that job was to protect the ones below us.
Don't take too long. A pair of them have already gotten by, I sent, severing the legs off another creature, causing it to plummet to the ground head-first. What? Devyr, pick up the pace, Kalia sent sternly, already having killed roughly thirty herself, judging by the amount of corpses splattered on the ground below.
Without another word, Devyr immediately followed the command, prompting Ysevel to increase her speed to match the hegraphene's. I realized I needed to do the same, but one of them managed to get by me in my rush to keep up with the others.
"Ed! Look out!" I shouted, prompting him to glance up and prepare for the large creature's arrival. It landed with a heavy thud, but I didn't have time to watch his fight, since I had several Thran who'd now turned their focus onto me.