[Ashborn-B1] 64. Who’s Running (Patreon)

LXIV

Who’s Running

Skul’s snout was aimed at the sky. His eyes were closed. His whiskers twirled. The holes he had for a nose expanded as the balekin drew in a big breath.

His ghost guardians touched the ground. Their half-formed bodies grew a spine and two legs but their forearms shrunk to resemble that of a drake. Only when they finished their transformation did Skul lower his head so his azure eyes glared down the elites opposite us.

And Erri.

The Dragonflight princess’s shoulder lowered and she took a step back.

I smiled. “Don’t you start running now.”

Her foot paused before hitting the ground. She snorted. “Who said I was running?” She stepped forwards and struck the air with her whip.

The snap brought back the focus of the elites beside her, whose faces had gone pale.

‘Terror…some kind of intimidation skill.’

Not the craziest ability, but it was a boon. This was his first upgrade, too. There was a good chance he’d unlock crazier skills against them if his trait grew stronger.

‘Let’s see how high this increased general durability is.’

Skul rushed forwards as Erri fired one of her serpents. He was at late stage, so his raw combat power should be below that of Erri’s constructs.

His jaws ripped through the serpentine creation and the floor sizzled as Skul slammed the great beast into the floor, clamped his fangs shut around its throat, and tore off a chunk of its fiery flesh. The serpent thrashed and threw its weight around, but Skul was too strong to shake.

There was a snap, then the construct dissolved and dissipated.

‘Hoh. He killed it for good?’ The serpents always regenerated no matter the damage they took.

If Erri’s limp hanging tail was an indication, she was surprised, too.

Skul reared and roared.

Erri held out her hand. More fires vuvvled in her hands. “Don’t grow haughty, whelp. I can recreate those as many times as I want.”

‘Until she runs out of essence,’ I corrected the boast.

But that was a gamble in and of itself—there was no telling how much essence she had. It could take until the end of this fight for her to finally feel something essence-wise. And then she could take a pill.

That said, there were signs. Underneath the armour, her chest was expanding heavily. Steam snuck through the gaps and escaped into the air.

‘There’s something up with her.’

Though she was definitely stronger than last time I faced her, she wasn’t as formidable as I expected her to be. Had I grown that much stronger?

Or was the reason something else?

“Charge them!” Erri yelled.

Skul’s gaze flashed and he began leeching two of the elites.

“Do we have a plan?” Ren’s fists flared.

“Hit em’ until they go down,” Rin cackled. Her trident vibrated so fast it hummed.

Ren deadpanned.

I focused on Skul’s bond to strengthen his Spirit Leech. His third ability was one I had yet to reveal, but it required concentration on my part.

The air exploded behind Erri as she kicked off. Fires wreathing over Skul’s frame grew colder. Fiercer. Stumps turned into arms, a neckline extended into a spine.

I pulled the image of the cindertree to the forefront of my mind. The way embers permanently floated around the great tree like fireflies. How its grey bark spotted with black appeared so soft yet the texture of the tree was hard. I’d never thought of it before: but it wasn’t the case that I had a bond with my summons, even though there was a connection between us. The entity I was really bound to was the cindertree, which was in turn linked to the other trees. It was that connection which allowed me to interact with my summons as deeply as I could.

It spoke for itself, then, that my connection with the cindertree should be many times deeper than any bond I could form with my summons.

Holding out a hand and closing my eyes, I called for a branch. On a hunch, I didn’t open a portal but channelled the energy into my hands. When I opened my eyes, I found an arm of the tree crawling out of my palm as if it was the very earth its seeds had been planted in.

‘I was right.’

Cutting through a sacred object at my level wasn’t possible. Should never be, no matter how many buffs I stacked. But it was different if the object I was cutting was a part of me. If it understood my intent and allowed it to happen. If that was the case—

Skul had dragged one of the elites into the dirt. Rin, Ren and Ori were fighting three-on-two, while Korin busied the fourth.

I aimed at Erri. ‘Grow,’ I commanded. The branch rippled before shooting forth like an arrow. Erri jerked in the middle of her charge and ducked. The branch shot over her head and burrowed into the ice.

‘It’s strong.’ Not as strong as when I summoned it through a portal. Not nearly. But then it also wasn’t losing any energy for being outside.

My brows lowered. I followed the line of essence trailing from the base of the branch, through my veins and towards my core. There, it connected with my shard.

‘It’s like I’m summoning a creature.’ It just didn’t take any shard energy to do so.

Erri’s legs tensed and she burst from her couched position, dragging the snakes around her waist with her. “Learned some new tricks, did you?!”

“I’ll be using you test out a few things,” I said.

Another branch ripped forth from my other hand that pierced one of her serpents and pinned it to the floor. I tried to have it grow more and wrap around its body to imprison it. The branch grew, but it didn’t respond to my command of curving. It also didn’t grow as fast and as quick as it did when shooting from my palm.

‘My command over it weakens depending on the distance?’

I let the base of the branch drop from my hand and jumped. Erri’s whip passed underneath me. One of her serpents did, too, but the other four heads whirred around to face me. The flames dripping from their fangs melt through the floor. Stuck in the air as I was, I’d be an easy target.

Another branch shot from my hand and speared the floor. ‘Retract.’

The shrinking branch pulled me out of the way just as the four serpents shot through the space I’d occupied before.

I crushed the ground with my landing and whirled to find Erri’s whip coming around for a second strike. ‘She’s slower than I expected.’

My sight honed on her upper body as she twisted to bring her weapon in line.

‘She’s not turning all the way.’

Her whip lashed the atmosphere like the backhand of an angry giant, searing the air where it passed.

Instead of pulling out my blade, I shaped the branches shooting from my hand into a circle and crouched. The clap echoing from the makeshift shield was the slap of a pimp disciplining his workers. The tremor passing through my defence cracked the entire surface. Importantly, though, it didn’t break, and the whip roared past, leaving nothing but its passing heat to lick my cheeks.

‘Interesting.’

If it could block an attack from Erri, it would have many uses to be certain.

I glanced at the battles raging around me. Korin was beating his elite blue with that spirit-infused staff of his. Rin, Ren and Ori were winning their exchange. Even Skul was holding his own against an elite, albeit with the help of his two guardians.

The problem was the rest of the Dawnflame army. With the disappearance of Saber’s Flame Horizon, their combat potential had lowered significantly.

A lesser drake’s bite split one of the Dawnflames in two. Another drake roasted a Dawnflame alive. My flametalon managed to bisect the latter beast and save the Dawnflame from dying, but only barely.

I grimaced. ‘She’ll be leaving the field soon.’ The miniature sun was no longer there to keep the flametalon around. She had another three minutes tops. After she disappeared, my buffs of Calm Mind would be fading, too.

‘I need to end this now.’

My core had enough essence for Skul’s ability…but that was the last of what I had. If this didn’t work, we’d need to run.

“Skul,” I called.

His fangs ripped through the elite’s throat. He turned towards me.

“Come here,” I said affectionately.

He flashed to my side and hovered over my shoulder. Flames already condensed inside him, the summon sensing what my request was before I uttered it. My blade freed its sheathe. I exhaled. Cleared my mind. When my gaze settled on the Dragonflight princess, her own serpents paused.

“Erri,” I whispered, knowing full well she could hear me despite the noise and carnage being wreaked all around us. “No more running. Let us settle this, once and for all.”

Skul’s shard throbbed. There was nothing like the feeling of his cool fires running through me. Not even Calm Mind came close.

‘I wonder why I catch onto your techniques the fastest.’ Did I identify with him more?

…Perhaps.

The heat and light radiating from Skul intensified. The dull darkness in the chamber, held at bay only by the many flame arts roaring through the space, lightened.

My chest let go of the air inside it. “Soul—” The roar rupturing forth drowned my words. Ahead of me, Erri’s serpents twisted into the air and hissed. All six of them.

Essence whirred inside me as I prepared for whatever she was about to unleash—

A thud sounded from my left. I frowned. In mayhem like this, it should’ve been near impossible to hear. Yet my ears had caught onto it. As if my mind knew how important it was and had amplified the noise.

My gaze snapped to the side.

At the very edge of the chamber, where the light from the fires reached the least and the deepest darkness remained, a figure lurked in the shadows. I could not see its form entirely, but the hundreds of eyes embedded in its feathers told me who it was beyond any doubt.

“Fuck,” Erri snarled.

I couldn’t agree more.