[Ashborn-B1] 78. Creeping Shadows (Patreon)

LXXVIII

Creeping Shadows

Hundreds upon hundreds of frozen daggers hung in the sky.

My heart skipped three beats a turn. ‘What should I do?’ Since I was sitting on Ashwing’s back I was exposed—

Breath hurled back into in my throat as the world spun.

What—

A massive claw latched around my middle, then a swathe of feathers consumed the view. Ashwing’s bond pulsed, which was when I understood she’d tossed me off. A sinking feeling erupted in my stomach. Whistles zoomed overhead, and her entire body jerked repeatedly.

When the sounds stopped, she unfolded her wings and attempted to break her dive.

Shards of ice jutted out of her back and sides. The constructs which’d struck her wings had pierced through entirely, leaving a bunch of holes.

Her hollow wings sang as the ground sped towards us.

‘Damn it. If things are like this, I should call my flametalon—’

Ashwing’s cry stopped my shard energy from flexing. She drew essence from my core and turned her wings ablaze. My brows touched my skull. ‘Ashwing, you…’ Instead of releasing her feathers and healing that way, she was immediately channelling the energy into her body to fuse the holes.

“Smart girl!”

The daggers were many but thin, so some of the holes closed immediately. It was enough for her to skirt across the ground and lift back into the sky.

I considered having her flip around and release me so I could fly on her back again but decided against it. This would reduce the time required for her to shield me again if another attack came.

I looked back through one of my chicks. The creature wasn’t preparing another volley, seemingly not caring about me now that I was fleeing.

My lips pressed together. ‘And why would it?’ It was making all of the monsters stronger. Unless we were planning on weathering stronger waves from now on, we had to go and destroy it.

‘We’ll need Aurille for certain.’ But who else? We couldn’t beat that thing with the two of us.

A beyond sour taste entered my mouth. Asking Gaje and that obnoxious serpent for help was more likely to kill me than any enemy…but I had no choice.

Ashwing spearheaded for the Snow Moon pillar.

Aurille hopped through the air on a series of platforms well before Ashwing touched the ground.

The Snow Moon landed near me and studied me. I must’ve been a comical sight, hanging limp from Ashwing’s claw.

“There are reasons,” I said.

“I bet,” she said straight-faced. “Want to switch?”

“Please.”

Ashwing flipped over, caught me on her rear, then grabbed Aurille.

I let out a sigh. “I can’t imagine that’s how you prefer it.”

‘Uncomfortable’ didn’t even begin to describe flying like that.

“It’s because you’re bigger than I am,” she said.

Yeah, right. She just didn’t care in the slightest. Her nerves were seriously crafted from ice.

I tapped Ashwing on the back. She turned towards the central pillar. While she flew, I surveyed the battle below us. Of the pillars I’d visited, Aurille’s party was undoubtedly doing the best.

‘Colour me surprised.’ I thought their ice powers would struggle against the same element, but it was the opposite. Their blades cleaved through the enemy as if they met no resistance and shattered their frozen armour. Those that were too strong to kill outright, the Snow Moons trapped in ice prisons.

“Fighting other ice users is nothing new for us,” Aurille said.

True. The Snow Moons were quite reserved when it came to others joining or mingling with their clan. So, of course, their own people would be the main opponents they’d practise against.

“One through ten, shields!” Tsall’s yell reached me.

A row of Snow Moons fused their techniques into an overly large barrier which stopped the volley of boulders in their tracks.

‘No wonder they made it through the tunnel without losing many people.’ Their teamwork and cohesion was off the charts. That, and Tsall really was a good leader.

Now, I felt less bad about taking Aurille away from her formation.

I grimaced after coming within range of the central pillar. Unlike the Snow Moons, the Dawnflames were having trouble piercing the thickened layers of ice armour. Their flames only got through the surface. Beyond that, the golems were beginning to reach a 3-to-1 advantage in numbers.

‘We don’t have much time.’

Should the creature not be dead when the next wave spawns…I didn’t want to think about it.

“Do you think we can do it without Erri?” Aurille asked.

On the ground, the Dragonflight princess’s serpent sank its teeth into a golem the size of a carriage. Fangs broke the ice. However, before the serpent could crack the golem in two, another construct rammed into it and forced it to let go.

Erri sent a second serpent to take care of the reinforcements. A magnificent feat since she was fighting three lvl. 40 golems by herself. A little ways away from her, Skul recoiled after one of the golems hurled an ice beam at his face. The balekin whirled on them and roared, but couldn’t get past the other golems blocking his way to enact vengeance. Luckily, his guardians were at his side to sort of make up for the number’s disparity.

My lips pulled upwards. ‘Taking Erri away will put a lot of pressure on them.’ Pressure they may not be able to survive.

I spun north. The beast still showed no signs of moving. But it was waiting—its power stirring within until the time came for it to release.

My mind raced. What could we do…

Skull’s roar drew my gaze. The summon leapt over the squad of enemies separating him from the object of his wrath. They fired another blast at him, but he made one of ghosts take the hit. Then, he crashed down to earth with all the speed and momentum owed to his powerful physique. He smashed the fragile golem hiding behind its allies into pieces.

Broken earth rained around him. He rose onto his hind legs and proudly showed his chest as he roared again.

Had the ice constructs been capable of feeling fear, they would’ve backpedalled at the fierce light flaring in his eyes.

I blinked. “How about we ignore some of them for now?”

“What do you mean?” Aurille said, also watching the spectacle.

“The next wave won’t start until we eliminate a certain number of enemies, right? So we cull the horde and leave a few.”

She hummed. “More beasts could still spawn if the golems self-destruct…but it’s worth a try. It will at least relieve our allies.”

“You two enjoying yourselves up there?!”

On the ground, Erri’s serpent shot forth and ended the existence of another golem. The princess herself skirt back across the field as she blocked a heavy punch on her arms. She stopped directly below us and glared up.

“We love seeing you struggle,” I said. “Keep it up!”

Aurille flicked her thumb at Erri, which made me burst out laughing. I would’ve never expected even that much from her.

Erri snarled. “You—”

Ashwing let herself fall like a rock. I spawned the portal in her path.

“Rest up, pretty.” I patted her back before jumping. She wouldn’t be able to rest much, but every second count.

We weren’t that high up, so the landing was kind on our legs. We landed beside Erri.

“We’ll be thinning the herd,” I said. “But make sure to leave some golems alive.”

Erri frowned, then turned towards the giant king. “You want to kill that thing between waves?”

“You’re not as dull as you look,” Aurille said.

The princess faced her. “You looking for a fight, Snow Moon?”

“You picked a fight with us a long time ago.” Aurille regarded me. “How are we going to let the others know of our plan?”

Heading to each pillar on Ashwing would take a long time. We needed someone absurdly fast…

My ears twitched. I swivelled and tried to spot a cloud of shadow anywhere but couldn’t find one.

“Kiran!” I yelled. “You there?! We need you to contact the others!”

“And what should I tell them, Lady Sunstrider?!”

I almost jumped. The damned guy appeared before the echo of my sentence even finished! Was he appearing quicker than before? He was smirking, too, so he definitely was.

I swallowed the desire to call him out on his pranks. “Tell the others…”

“…so be careful, alright?!” the boy yelled before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Dozens of eyes spun in his direction as Gaje crushed the core of a golem with his bare hands.

‘There is no lingering trail of essence. How is he disappearing like that?’

To think someone on this level can dodge his senses…

He pulled his arms out of the beast’s chest. ‘He’s a monster in his own right.’ Wouldn’t do much in a straight up fight. However, there were ways to take out your opponent that didn’t involve a head-to-head battle.

“It’s too bad he’s on the other team,” Raiden said. “Old Man Ja would’ve loved a student like him.”

Gaje’s sight fell on the male counterpart of who the others in his clan considered a pair. The blade of pure lightning wrapped around Raiden’s hands practically waltzed through a golem. The creature exploded from the surge of energy infiltrating its insides.

Destroying the golems totally like that kept them from rising when the giant conjured the blizzard. Gaje had given that information to the Dawnflame boy just now to make it seem like he was honestly doing his best to work together.

A lithe girl, the other half of the pair, dropped beside Gaje without so much as a sound.

“When are we moving in?” she asked.

He refrained from shutting his eyes with a sigh and studied her whiskers. Raiden had taught him that you could tell her mood based on how often they twitched per second.

They were practically waving at him, so he swallowed his own annoyance.

He looked away. “Soon.”

“You’ve been saying that for the last two waves!” she huffed. “We’ll miss our chance!”

The nightmare didn’t bother to respond. His monster form and stronger arts required some setup, but that was information he’d keep close to his chest. So, he relied on the image of his character as a unsocial fellow.

‘I’ve already finished drawing the rune anyway.’ He just needed the right opportunity.

“You heard him, didn’t you?” Raiden said, already searching for his next target. “They’ll likely need to divert a significant amount energy to kill that creature. We’ll let them handle it so they get winded.”

“Do you think they’re stupid?” Maya said. “That’s what they expect, if we—”

The rest of her sentence cut off as Gaje leapt after another golem. An eye on the side of his fur whirled without his consent and latched onto the silhouette darting through the sky on flaming wings. Merely looking at her was enough to have his insides squirm.

There were a dozen reasons that made consuming that girl his number one priority: the black jade slip of the temple she had on her (which must no doubt be nearly full), her herald title, the experience he’d gain—every time he thought about it, another reason popped up.

However, first and foremost was her nature.

He glanced at his quest.

Quest: Apex Aspect of the Nightmare. Objective: Consume the fate of Irregular Creatures. 1/2.

Of all the things he’d eaten, only one had ever incremented that counter, and that was a lucky chance he’d stumbled upon. A beast who’d dropped from the heavens, whose carcass had plundered into his section of the wasteland that made up the Redmaw Wastes.

But he could sense it beyond a shadow of a doubt: the fate attached to that girl. Ten closed eyes popped at once as his vertical mouth split to reveal the darkness hanging above a world of dreamers.

A thin, serpentine tongue rolled over his teeth. She would be his second.