Master of Dominion-Chapter 71: Withered swarm 2
Rael stood at the edge of the first boundary ward sigil, gazing into the tree lines with a hardened expression, with Iyvre and Ayobe standing by his side.
’It’s silent now’ Rael thought to himself. The entire woods had returned to that ominous silence. He tightened his grip on the sword as he suddenly squinted at a silhouette that slowly appeared within the shadows of the trees.
"Is that a worg?" Rael murmured. The silhouette slowly revealed itself, maintaining the wolf-like shape of an aether worg. However, upon a closer look as the red moon’s light leaked through the canopy a grotesque creature with a split maw jagged with razor-sharp teeth and an abnormally huge front paw was revealed. It stared at Rael from afar with a bloated eye, covered in jagged bones and black goo that slowly dripped onto the forest floor.
"Ugh, that’s one ugly fella," Rael recoiled, wrinkling his nose in utter disgust. "But on the bright side, it’s just one," he added with a smile.
"I don’t think so," Ayobe said warily. She stared at the shadows behind the revealed Withered spawn which, as if hearing Rael’s earlier remark, released a horrible shriek.
Causing many more to respond in turn as more Withered spawns with different grotesque shapes revealed themselves from the shadows, essentially surrounding the territory.
"Ahem." Rael ignored the stare Yasmin threw at him from the tree she stood upon. Clearly, he had spoken too soon; the Withered, without wasting time, pounced toward their position in dozens
"I count twenty-two," Rael muttered, quickly analyzing the number of Withered spawns closing in on them. To him, they seemed manageable.
"Twenty-seven," Iyvre corrected. She charged past him, turning into a blur as she immediately split through a Withered spawn that dived toward them with claw-like wings.
Her blade, now coated by her technique, sliced through the creature while simultaneously burning its insides.
She quickly whipped around, dodging a claw, and brought her blade down heavily on the boar-like head of another, smashing it with a wet crunch. But that didn’t stop the creature; it moved its front appendage to stab at Iyvre’s flank, only to have its entire body along with another nearby Withered dissected into several pieces
Rael stared blankly at how fast she finished off three Withered and even almost finished off another two; he had actually forgotten that she was now a Bronze ranked warrior.
’She was fast before, but now...’ Rael’s thoughts trailed off as he quickly charged forward as well to stop the Withered from surrounding Iyvre.
Since their attention had shifted to her alone, probably due to her abundant aether. Besides, he had noticed the four she had killed weren’t counted by the Tier 2 quest, so he wasn’t about to allow her to steal his kills.
He tilted his body to the side mid-charge as a thorny, black, large tongue from a seven feet tall and wide bloated toad-like Withered filled with black poxes swooshed past him, smashing into a tree trunk. Rael immediately twisted the sword, cutting through the tongue before leaping to dodge the spray of black blood and slamming the sword into the head of the Withered.
Only for two more smaller withered toads to pounce on him, but Rael ducked his head, swinging his leg upwards and slamming one to the side. He then slashed his sword across the bloated belly of the other, only for thorny tentacles to burst out and try to latch onto him.
He darted to the side, spinning the sword as it cut through the tentacles. He brought the spinning sword to a stop before stabbing it into the head of the bigger withered toad, then tore through its midsection splitting the thing in half, he then swung the sword horizontally, cutting off the tongues the two smaller Withered had shot at him.
They still scuttled forward, leaping toward him, but he dashed to the side, dodging a grotesque maw that crept on him from behind. Regardless, he lunged forward, bisecting the two Withered toads mid-air.
Before turning and sending a red arc that split through three other Withered spawns.
Rael furrowed his brows, seeing that they were difficult to kill and would become exhausting to face in the long run. This was why he had been pleased with the idea Yasmin had proposed
it was simple,both he and Iyvre would be the first vanguard and hold the Withered at least until they ran out of aether.
Then, they would be replaced by her and Ayobe until they recovered, and vice versa. As for Xaphxan, he was meant to provide occasional support if they got into a perilous situation, due to his spell taking time to charge.
Rael parried several spiked tentacles before whipping his sword around and stabbing it into the wriggling form of a Withered. The thing shrieked before spitting a green blood toward Rael’s face. He tilted his head, dodging the foul-smelling liquid that burnt into the bone-jagged back of another Withered. Rael swung the sword upward, ripping it out of the Withered’s head, before twisting his grip and stabbing multiple times into the Withered behind him
Rael gritted his teeth not because he was getting exhausted, far from it. It was just that despite how many Withered he’d already bisected, his quest log only recorded seven kills. Clearly, these abominations were tenacious, clinging to life even after he chopped them into pieces.
What even annoyed him more, and clearly tugged at his pride, was Iyvre. She had turned into a killing machine, tearing through the Withered with ease and leaving every one she killed dead and sizzling, as if sliced by a hot beam of light
"Tsk." Rael sent forth a red arc that slammed into a bloated Withered, riddled with sharp antlers and tusks. The impact slammed it into a tree trunk and sliced right through it
He immediately deflected a clawed palm disfigured with countless fingers, then sliced off the entire arm of the obviously once-Colosape that now carried not just six arms, but seventeen if not more. Rael kicked off another arm that lunged for his waist, stabbing into another only for more to shoot towards him. He sent aether towards his sword, triggering the Blood Rend technique but halting it, letting the sword glow red as he twisted his body and sliced through the countless arms that hid the Withered’s exposed innards. He then immediately thrust the sword forward, piercing through the spine before raking the blade across the huge frame, bisecting it into three.
"Can’t let her have my kills," Rael muttered, as a competitive glint flashed across his eyes
