Adventures of the last Wild Dragon-Chapter 212: Ambush
With the emergence of the hoard of creatures the bubbling anxiety transformed into a steely anticipation for the upcoming fight. Violet was both relieved and disappointed to have her anxiety proven correct. Glad that it seemed like that man Mason was not the sole reason for her worries, yet disappointed that she hadn't been able to hear the last reason he was about to state.
She shook her head, she could find that out later on, right now she had a fight to win.
Luna being a front line fighter at heart had rushed to join the arrayed warriors that were forming a bulwark, Rhyana and Masin hot on her heels. The rotund mousekin was already there, standing in the front and shimmering with powerful mana as he stood like an indomitable bastion against the incoming tide of foes.
Violet found herself besides the Drow mage who was already summoning forth shadows of all shapes and sizes to do her bidding in the upcoming clash. Violet also noted with interest that the drow was using the shadows to draw out magical circles of her own, yet they didn't seem to be a skill created spell but a free form inscription of some kind.
Violet desperately wanted to ask her about that to learn how to do so but knew that now wasn't the time to do so, she instead promised herself that she would do so after the fight.
So Violet began to create her own arsenal of magic to battle the incoming tide. Bolts and spears of void began to form around her, each crackling with a purple hue.
The creatures were closing in by now, rushing forward in a seemingly maddened dash.
They were a strange assortment of creatures, some were clearly beasts such as Panthers draped in shadows and peculiar warthog type beasts with stony armour. Yet others were much stranger, monsters perhaps? Violet wasn't too sure but she felt some danger from one type of creature in particular.
They moved on two legs, yet their legs bent at strange and unnatural angles, a short but stubby torso with 4 arms coming from it. The arms all ended with wicked looking obsidian claws that strongly resembled the claws that helped to tear open the rift in space. Their faces were what truly set them apart however, they had a singular mouth, split vertically with rows of needle sharp teeth.
In the center of their foreheads however, was a singular eye, it was the same kind of eye that stared through the rift, resembling nothing short of a nebula with its vivid blues and oranges that glowed like a spotlight.
When the front line of the tide finally impacted with the front line of adventures those strange creatures made there move. They suddenly vanished in a ripple of space, Violet who saw this opened her eyes in surprise at that, momentarily confused as to where they went.
However, she suddenly felt a prickle in her senses, instantly turning around to where her instincts told her to look. The drow also seemed to notice the same phenomena as violet as she too rapidly turned around.
Together the two of them watched as space rippled behind them, only to suddenly snap back into place as the 4 armed creatures appeared in the ripples place.
"Behind us! Mages defend!" The drow woman shouted, yet that was all the warning that she could give. For as soon as she shouted that warning out the creatures were suddenly upon them.
Violet unleashed her skills, her bolts and spears punching through the gray hides of the monsters, yet they simply shrugged off the damage that her bolts dealt, only her spears seemed to give them any true trouble.
The drow similarly attacked, spears of shadows rose up from the ground, impelling several of the creatures at once. Her magics doing significantly more damage than Violet's, still Violet did not stop her barrage, she changed the target of her bolts though, sending them in a wide arc to distract as many of her foes as she could to give the rest of the mages time to react to the sudden flanking attack.
Susan was already summoning dozens of bubbles up and down the line of mages, the sound of popping being drowned out with the roar of combat.
Still with the timely intervention of Violet and the drow they had managed to blunt the initial strike, allowing the mages in the back line to react and begin their counterattack.
Not all escaped unscathed, several adventures suffered wounds from the surprise attack, their own defences unable to be activated fast enough to save them from injury. They quickly fell back and heals likes Susan began to work their magic to stitch them back together.
Back on the front lines things went much better for the adventures, a frontal charge was something that they knew how to deal with. After all, most beasts were not all too intelligent and would often resort to simple charging tactics.
So with their improvised shield wall they withstood the initial collision. The shadow panthers tried to flank them from the side, yet the light warriors such as Luna moved to intercept them.
Luna split herself into 4 each of her illusions striking at a foe with deadly accuracy, ice blade met shadow as the panthers struck back. Yet her illusions were not fully corporal, when a panther attacked with solely physical might they simply passed right through the illusion, allowing the frozen clones to solidify in their counterattack and strike true.
"Any free warriors swap back to the rear! Help the mages!" Roared Odrin, prompting several such warriors to rush back. Rhyana was one such person, her small form enabling her to weave through the clumped up adventures and get to the back lines in good time.
The 4 armed creatures, whilst deadly on a surprise attack, lacked any true staying power in a direct fight. Violet and the drow were easily able to slay several of them with well placed skills. The drow in particular was a true master of her craft.
She not only led the counterattack with her precise spears of shadow, but was also one of the primary defenders. Shadowy figures would rise from the ground to intercept a blow about to attack an ally, staying long enough to return a single attack before slinking back into the shadows below.
Hands of shadows would reach up to grab into the figures legs, tripping them, their eye would suddenly be covered by a veil of shadow to block their sight, allowing attacks to land. She did a dozen things at once, each action decisive and deadly.
All the while she continued to etch runes with her shadows, building up a spell of no doubt incredible might.
Luna danced from foe to foe, each attack either she or one of her frozen clones landed causing her next attack to deal just a little bit more damage. Her domain of frost spread out, slowing and debuffing any enemy that got too close, the nearby adventures taking advantage of that to launch and arrow or spell into the slowed beasts.
Up at the front, the rotund mousekin was an immovable bulwark. Any foe that tried to push him back would have a better chance of moving a building. They would crash into his mighty tower shield with sickening crunches, only to be swept away with a swing of his weapon a moment later.
Masin who stood nearby was also at the epicentre of carnage. He was less an immovable object and more of an unstoppable force. He wielding a sword and shield yet never seemed to use his shield as anything other than a weapon.
Instead of blocking a head but from one of the stone warthogs he would punch forwards, the pointed bottom of his shield acting as a deadly weapon to punch through the skull of the unlucky beast, his sword then lashing out to cut another beast in two.
Each adventures proved their might, each one a true elite. Whilst they were initially outnumbered almost 3 to 1 they did not falter, each fighter slaying whatever got in their path.
As the equilibrium began to tip into the adventures favour the drow finally seemed to have completed her grand runic spell.
Every shadow in the cavern suddenly became deeper, shapes seemed to twist in their dark depths, unable to be seen yet able to be felt, like the cold touch of death breathing down one's neck.
Then every single shadow in the room burst with movement. A hundred spikes of shadows shot forth from every direction at once, not a single one aimed at one of the adventures. Nearly every single beast and monster was impelled in an instant, cries of pain and rage ringing out all around them,
The drow dragged to one knee from the effort of unleashing such a spell, Violet instantly blinking in front of her to protect her from any stray attack.
Yet with that single move the fight was practically over. With only a few stragglers left standing it did not take long from the assembled adventures to put them down.
As this happened the rift began to close, just before it winked out of existence two nebula like eyes flashed in its twisted depth for the briefest of moments, then the rift closed and silence returned to the cavern.
