"Let's dance, fuckers," I muttered, forming my Kataki blade upside down so I had more variety for my attacks. As each one came, I did what Mom and Kalia taught me to do best: keep them guessing. With each of their strikes fueled by their rage, it was challenging to keep a solid footing without pushing mana into the boulders around me.
Each one had enough force to carve a wide gash wherever I once stood, but using the boulders to my advantage, I severed the head of the first, split the second in half, and used its entrails to conceal my waist-height assault on the third. The fourth aimed a spear at my back, but I'd accounted for it and deflected the blow with my reversed kataki blade, allowing it to glance off my blade without much issue.
I jammed my elven sword in the flesh beneath its jaw and raised my other blade to sever its head from its shoulders. The fifth, wielding a pair of blades similar to the commander's, tried to crush me beneath their weight, but I managed to create an extension of the boulder beneath my feet just in time and side-stepped it deftly.
Its twin blades nearly carved the boulder from the cliff, but I took the opportunity to create a pair of wind-blades beneath it, while I swung mine from above its haunched back, splitting it into four, thick sections that fell toward the path in multiple heaps.
My eyes followed the pieces down to where Ed was still battling his Thran, while Irun and Athar battled another handful that had gotten by to protect the dwarves, though a few of them had died due to the sheer force of the shockwaves from the Thrans' strikes.
He's doing well, don't you think? Kalia sent, having only briefly glanced in his direction. He's always been a good sword-caster, but it seems all the training with Ren, Thorn, and Nenvalur is paying off, I noted with a bit of pride. He might even rival me now, I continued, watching him between killing another Thran and checking on the others.
Not likely, Ysevel added with a warm tone that, if any sane person had heard, would likely have sent a shiver down their spine at her efficient brutality. Let's finish this up and help the others, shall we? Kalia added, to which we all agreed.
Just as we did so, however, the leader at the top of the cliff leaped off the side, bounding from one boulder to the next, leaving a clear trail of blood in his wake. "Come here, weasel shit! I'm not done with you, yet," Mom shouted before she broke out into an almost untrackable dash toward it, shaking the entire cliffside and knocking a cluster of boulders loose in her wake.
Damn it, she's gonna bring down the entire cliff at this rate, I thought, realizing no others had come down from the ledge they were fighting on. If you're done up here, go down and check on the others, Kalia commanded firmly, finishing up what I realized was likely her fiftieth kill.
Ysevel, Devyr, and I finished off any stragglers that were sprawled across the boulders as we made our way back down to Ed and the others. Thankfully, Irun and Athar had subdued the other creatures that managed to escape us, while Ed was hunched over the corpse of his first Thran kill. His shoulders were rising and falling rapidly, and I could tell at a glance that it had taken him nearly everything he had to kill it.
"Not bad for your first one," I said from a distance, flicking the blood off my elven sword while reforming my kataki one. "You weren't kidding; these guys are tough," he chuckled tiredly. "Can't say I didn't warn you, but I'm glad you're alright," I smiled, patting him on the back briefly before turning to the others.
"Are you alright?" I asked the group of dwarves who'd huddled inside the overturned carriage. "Y-Yes," one of them answered, bug-eyed and breathing shallowly as he peered out of the ruined doorway. "That damned elf. Where the hell is she?" Balgrim asked, stepping out from behind the others. "She's chasing the commander down for sport," I said lightly, causing the others to glance at me with confused looks.
Hey, I found something. Meet me around the bend, I heard Mom's voice echo through our connection. "It seems she's found something," I said, not explaining how I knew that information, prompting Ed to raise an eyebrow. "I-I'm going with you!" Balgrim stammered gruffly. "I'm counting on it," I nodded, motioning for the others to follow along.
As we neared Mom's location, I could tell Athar was struggling to keep it together now that his focus was solely on whatever this source of mana was. "Anyone care to explain what that is? He wouldn't talk," Mom asked as she kicked the corpse beneath her, pointing out a large sphere of Leech mana burying itself in the ground a reasonable distance away.
"Anvil's recoil, what is that?" one of the dwarves asked. "Something none of you here are prepared to deal with," Balgrim said to the other dwarves idly, causing Athar to look at him with slight confusion. "So, you do know what Leech mana is," he spat, ignoring his own trauma as he walked toward the druid.
"I-I only know what Markus was able to discover, but I never knew its name," Balgrim stammered, raising his hands defensively. "He's fucking lying," Athar's alternate voice seethed through gritted teeth. "We don't know that yet, Athar," Mom said, stepping down from atop the fallen commander's head.
"Maybe not, but I still don't trust him," Athar continued, glaring at the dwarf he towered over. Thoma, I've got this, Irun sent me, regardless of his personal feelings towards sending telepathic communications. Given the gravity of Athar's accusations, however, he must have deemed it necessary.
"Hey, it's like Siraye said: we don't know enough yet, but he does have some explaining to do," Irun said, placing a hand on Athar's shoulder, while giving Balgrim a curious stare. "I-I'll explain what I know, I swear!" the dwarf replied quickly.
It made perfect sense for him to be afraid of us at that point, but there was something off in the distance that caught my eye. "The land around it is… dying. Look," I gestured toward the base of the sphere, which was currently killing all the nearby vegetation.
Just as I did so, the sphere began to swell to nearly four times its original size. "Get back!" Mom shouted, putting up a barrier to protect us. Kalia and Devyr did the same, while the others in Nightfall's Blade and I did the same as a secondary level of protection against whatever came next.
The orb of Leech mana exploded, voraciously devouring all the vegetation in its wake, leaving behind nothing but ash and brightly colored sand. The wave of mana reached our barriers, and while it hardly did any damage to them, we could tell that anything within its range was either horribly disfigured or dead. Athar's face blanched, but whether it was from shock or pain, I couldn't tell.
"That was too close for comfort," Mom said, slowly lowering her barrier, as the others and I followed her lead. If this is what the corrupted Wardens are capable of, then this will not be an easy war to wage, Kalia noted, giving voice to our unsaid concerns.
Hearing Kalia's words, Mom immediately turned to face Balgrim, who, based on the expression he wore, nearly had a brown river running down the back of his leg under the weight of her glare.
"Athar, I'm sorry I couldn't fully protect you," she said, never once averting her gaze from the druid. "I-It's alright, Siraye. I'm actually feeling a lot better now that it's gone," he said, allowing himself a sigh to regain his composure. "If that's what we're going to be up against while we're here, we're going to need a damned good explanation, Balgrim," she said coldly.
"O-Of course. I'll give you whatever information I have if it helps us to protect the Isles. N-Nothing ventured; nothing gained, right?" the dwarf stammered, still heavily shaken by my mother's piercing gaze. Mom could only offer a tilt of her head in response.
Shiiiit, I know that look on your mom's face. I can tell she knows he's hiding something, but I can't tell what, exactly, Ysevel sent me, causing me to raise an eyebrow. I guess we'll find out soon enough, I sent back, inhaling deeply as I readied myself for another plunge into the abyss of knowledge.