AR Chapter 488 (Patreon)

As the sounds of battle echoed through my city, I paid no attention to the screams and sounds emanating from the walls. All I could bring myself to care about was the chaos straight ahead of me, the damage that I could hear spreading deeper into and towards my home.

A few shadows attempted to trip me as I continued to run, but with a snarl, I started pushing my sonic magic from my body in a constant, fluctuating wave. The magic that attacked me was driven away without issue, the attacks that came from that distance incapable of overcoming my natural resistance and defenses. None of my enemies came close enough for me to vent any of my anxious rage, which might've been just as well. I was able to sprint through the city, miles passing underfoot in less than a minute as I arrived on the opposite side of my palace.

“Sybil!” I shouted from outside. “Answer me if you're inside and safe!”

“It is only us within,” she answered. “Nothing has entered.”

I nodded several times to myself, gathering my determination and staring ahead to see what enemy approached. The first creatures that I could feel slithering through the darkness were two hunting pairs of wyrms. The shadows undulated towards me, each pair coming from a different street, and I bared my teeth as I prepared for the fight. I'd grown accustomed to killing and even hunting the wyrms, but a single bite from their venomous jaws would be debilitating, even if I killed all four. I couldn't risk being laid out for the coming battle from these first few foes.

With a curse to myself for spending the reserves of my sonilphon so wastefully, I maintained a small area of constant sonic magic about five feet from myself in every direction. It wasn't much, in terms of giving myself space to react, but it was better than letting something come up from directly underfoot. The first mating pair came at me, trying to do just what I was protecting myself from, just snap their jaws up from the ground and bite me without any opportunity to defend myself. Due to my preparations, the beasts were forced from the shadows just a few feet from me.

Despite that small surprise for them, they were apex hunters, made to kill. They didn't hesitate to continue their attack, both flying towards my legs. I swept the butt of my spear horizontally, the leather-wrapped tisarite smashing into their necks and knocking them aside. I drew on Combatant's Bloodlust to its fullest, dozens of weaknesses appearing in my vision, as I stabbed forward as fast as I could. Spear of the Many drove my weapon faster than I could without it, and my first attack struck home.

The blade cut through leathery flesh and pierced deep into the wyrm’s chest. I yanked back and stabbed at the other, the first attack spilling plenty of blood in the wake of my strike. The single attack gave a wound that would be mortal within the next few minutes and I focused on the other. Its mate evaded my attack, slipping out of reach and then melding with shadow as the deeply wounded wyrm hissed menacingly at me.

I paid the attempted threat no mind, stepping forward and kicking heavily into the beast’s wound. The claws at the tip of my toes dug into the wound and sent the wyrm sprawling across the ground. It hissed piteously, but I felt no mercy for the creature which would slaughter me and my family. Instead of focusing on dealing a killing blow, I whirled around and, with Tremorsense giving me guidance, stabbed forward as another wyrm appeared. My tail smashed against the already wounded wyrm behind me, sending it flying even further as my spear's head pierced perfectly into the open mouth of the next wyrm to attack.

Unlike the other, this one was immediately killed as the spear lodged in its brain, and it became dead weight that slid up the haft of my spear. In this case, the killing blow impeded me, and as its shrieking mate threw itself at me, I was left without my weapon. I released my grip and let my spear fall heavily to the ground as the fourth wyrm to attack me in quick succession lunged at my chest. Like the rest, I wasn't in a good position to avoid this, and I simultaneously cursed and prayed as I realized I was about to be bitten.

My right hand's claws and fingers were locked together to strike a blow back at the enemy as it struck me, but my target was interrupted.

With a howl, Arwa launched herself at the wyrm's neck, lightning bursting from her mane. Her fangs, covered with pulsating bursts of lightning, shredded into the wyrm that had not foreseen her attack at all. The two fell into a writhing melee, its claws scratching at her ribs but its jaws unable to reach her body. I started to come to her aid, but the rest of her children were already in motion and arrived with yips and lightning-covered jaws. With the crackling of lightning thrashing across their bodies, the wolves that I’d met as pups set into the wyrm and started shredding it. Their magic kept the wyrm from having any prayer of escape, and it screeched as, over the course of several seconds, it was killed by a pack of Voltaic Wolfstags.

“Good girl.” I almost growled it more than I said it, and with reinforcements, I finished off the other wyrms in quick succession.

“You didn't think I'd let you fight alone, did you, Zaaktif?” Joral's voice came from behind me, his words belying the tension in his tone. “I've got you, my Zaaktif.”

“And don't forget me,” Brutus rumbled from nearby as he jogged around the corner, his claws slick with blood. I saw the corpse of a Misti Hawar left behind him, and the brief relaxation I'd experienced upon the help from Arwa disappeared as I remembered the intruders. Then, to add to my tension, the shadows all around thickened and two spawn thrashed into view. Behind them, two more approached, and between the four was the familiar silhouette of a Misti Hawar.

“This war has gone on long enough, hasn't it?” the Nyust'Taa asked, and I couldn't agree with the sentiment more.

No more words were exchanged as both sides threw themselves at the others, ready to rip and tear until only one side was left standing.