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Chapter K9 - Lady Of The Mountain
🕑 Added 2018-12-13 22:24:08 +0000 UTCZancrax breaks through an especially thick patch of undergrowth and notices too late that there's no more ground to walk on. After a drop of a few meters, his body hits the water. Luckily, it's not so deep that he can't keep his neck above the surface, but the others following right behind him are shorter in stature.
"Careful, there's-" Before he can warn Terog and Gram, who are pulling the cart on which Sazi and Rolan are riding, they already appear from the gap he created. Zancrax quickly dives sideways so that they don't crash into him.
Fortunately, the cart is made from well-aligned wooden planks, as it floats on the surface of the water without springing a leak. The two on top of it are rocked around but can hold on. However, those that were pulling the cart become fully submerged and struggle to get back to the surface due to their heavy equipment.
Kamii and Ireyo are able to make a full stop before falling down from the ledge and face the blood apes. They appear all along the shoreline and begin to fling stones at the minotaur and the riders of the now unintentional raft. The little dark elf glances at Terog and Gram struggling in the water and immediately orders the rabbit woman to go and help them.
"What about you?" She swings the giant broken sword to cleave several approaching enemies in half.
"I have your back." With a powerful punch of her crab arm, Kamii sends one of the smaller apes flying back into a group of others. Since she couldn't keep up her curse counter completely throughout their flight, it wasn't powerful enough to kill the beast in a single hit.
Without questioning her leader's decision any further, Ireyo lodges the Divider between two trees and jumps into the river with the chain in her hand. Among all the demons in this group, she's physically the strongest despite her diminutive height, which barely reaches up to Kamii's chest. She dives into the slow-flowing water and finds Terog trying to tear off his armor. At the same time, Gram has discarded the shield strapped to his back and is swimming towards the boar demon.
Grabbing the latter's fang, she gets his attention and hands him the chain. He catches on quickly and begins to pull himself up on it, while she uses her monstrous strength to tear the leather straps holding his heavy breastplate in place. The issue is the gambeson he wears underneath, as it's made of cloth and completely soaked in water.
At last, his head breaks the surface, and he takes a long deep breath. However, he isn't in the clear yet, as his strength is giving out after having swung his axe in battle and pulled the cart for several leagues at top speed. Holding onto the chain with one hand while pulling at his gambeson, he tries to take it off.
Zancrax catches the floating cart while rocks are pelting his helmet and shoulder pauldrons; the armor can easily withstand the projectiles flung at him, and he ignores them. However, neither Sazi nor Rolan are wearing such heavy armor. He's using the folded tent to cover her and himself from the rain of stones, but the cloth won't be able to withstand any spears.
"We need to get out of here!" Rolan calls out to Kamii, whose attacks have gained in power after repeatedly hitting enemies again.
"The river changed from how I remember it." Sazi looks around as if to recall the lay of the land before it turned into what it is now. She points upstream and then at the other shore. "There used to be a small ridge so that should be a shallow crossing now."
"We kind of have other problems right now." The minotaur lifts an arm to shield himself from the flying rocks, as the openings for the eyes on the helmet are big enough that a stray projectile could hit him there. He pushes the cart upstream nonetheless, to reunite with the still struggling Terog.
Gram, having lost his extremely heavy shield, is unable to defend himself and has suffered a blow to his head, which is now bleeding profusely. It didn't have enough force to knock him out, but if he takes more of those, one will eventually do the trick. He swims towards the cart, hoping to take cover behind it.
The little dark elf's attacks have gotten to the point where every swing turns an enemy into an explosion of red mist again. Maybe the blood apes can't comprehend what she's doing or are just so frenzied that they don't care, but they keep charging at her with reckless abandon. Even the bigger ones, under the orders of the group of new leaders, try to attack her but are ripped apart by her cursed arm.
Ireyo is finally able to help Terog out of his gambeson, which quickly sinks to the bottom of the river. The rabbit woman immediately climbs up the chain and gives it a good pull, causing the boar demon to leave the water and land on the shore just below the small ledge from which they fell earlier.
With a kick of her powerful leg, she sends an ape attempting to grab her flying, then retrieves the Divider and returns to Kamii's side. The two keep the enemies busy and distracted so that those in the water can move along the shore unbothered.
Finally, Gram gets behind the floating cart and hides from the few stones still coming their way. Zancrax can now use both his hands to push it more quickly than before. The boar demon catches his breath and gets up to his feet; now that he no longer wears any armor, he can't join the battle and instead follows the others by ducking down and sneaking along the shoreline.
The two above him slowly move parallel with the group in the water, so that the blood apes don't get ahead of the group and begin to throw rocks again. Steadily, they progress towards the point Sazi pointed out earlier, sustaining only a few hits along the way.
"Stay away from the water." The masked woman warns Rolan when he moves over to help Gram.
"Why? What's in there?" Staring intently at the surface, which is being stirred by the movements of their makeshift boat, he tries to peer into the muddy depths. If there are dangerous animals, the big man and Zancrax should get out of there immediately.
"It is full of diseases. You do not want to expose that arm of yours to them." She doesn't sound very concerned about him but rather about the time they would waste if he were to become sick and fall unconscious again.
"Then what about them?" The former leader gestures at Zancrax and more specifically Gram, who has a head wound while in the water. Terog and Ireyo were also completely submerged, so they should be affected as well.
"We will see. Zohigal is not far from here." Peeking over the cloth, which Rolan affixed with the wooden frame of the tent so that it can stand on its own, Sazi sees how the others are doing.
"How far is it?" Ireyo calls out to her without even noticing that she's watching, while felling several trees in a single swing of her giant sword, causing many apes to drop down from the branches and others to get crushed under the trunks. She must be getting close to the end of her monstrous strength as well now, as her voice sounds impatient and tired.
"Just a bit more." Kamii answers in her stead, believing that Sazi will give an answer when the time is right. Her voice is steady, and she seems to be the least exhausted of the fighters, despite being the one who moved the most.
Rolan wonders why the apes continue to attack despite taking so many losses. Maybe they're all corrupted creatures because they live on the demon continent, but in his experience, even cursed animals have a survival instinct. By now, at least a hundred of them must have been killed; was all that just to satisfy their territorial instincts?
But just as he thinks this, the apes finally begin to retreat. Maybe their new chieftain has realized that at this rate, their numbers will drop too much, and they won't be able to maintain their territory against other tribes or invaders.
"They've given up!" Zancrax raises an arm out of the water and cheers.
"About damn time." Terog peeks over the ledge and looks up at the backs of Kamii and Ireyo. The latter is breathing hard and drags her sword along the ground at this point. It's completely red from the blood of the enemies she has slain. On the other hand, the little dark elf is composed, and her cursed arm is perfectly clean. Or maybe its natural blood red color blends with that of the enemies she splattered with it.
"The crossing is right he-" Sazi begins, but suddenly the deafening roar of a beast far larger than anything they heard before echoes through the jungle. It vibrates through the air, and its shockwaves cause the trees to shake. The blood apes must have sensed its approach and retreated for that reason.
When it ends, the entire jungle has fallen quiet, even though it had been filled with the noises of all kinds of animals before. The group of humans and demons remain completely still, looking around without even turning their heads. Anxiety lays itself over them and sweat rolls down their faces as they try to make out where it came from.
"What was that?" Rolan whispers to the zombie woman, whose expression is indiscernible through her mask. Even if she didn't wear it, her desiccated and bandaged face wouldn't show any emotions either way.
"That... cannot be." She sounds shocked and cradles her hooded head.
"Tell me what that was!" Shaking her shoulder, the one-armed human asks intently but receives nothing but mumbles of disbelief. "Kamii, that seems to be something bad. We need to move!"
Luckily, they already reached the shallows that Sazi pointed out earlier. In her current state, she wouldn't be able to guide them. Terog walks into the water once more to check the footing and discovers that there's a path leading in an almost straight line through the wide river. Since it still reaches up to his chest, Kamii and Ireyo are both loaded up onto the cart. With the boar demon pulling and Gram pushing, they begin the crossing, as Zancrax becomes the rear guard and is made to carry the Divider, which is too heavy to place on the floating cart.
When they're halfway to the other side, Rolan looks back to see trees shaking as if something is pushing them aside. Whatever is doing it must be gigantic. And it's coming their way, crushing the undergrowth audibly with every step.
"What..." Muttering to himself, he tries to peer into the darkness of the tree line to see what's coming after them, but can't make it out at all.
"That is the primeval protector of the jungle, Tepeyohuatl - Lady of the Mountain." The zombie guide finally explains in a fearful tone. "She is the patron goddess of the demons of Zohigal."
"That doesn't sound too bad?" He tries to lighten the mood, but nobody is having it. It's clear that this Lady of the Mountain made that roaring sound, so it's most likely a being the size of a giant.
"A goddess?" Kamii asks and clicks her pincer nervously. She only had bad experiences with those beings people would call gods, and has sworn to fight them whenever she meets one. But then the tree line breaks open, and she sees who - or what - this goddess really is.
A titanic dinosaur standing on two powerful legs as thick as the oldest tree trunks appears on the riverbank. Its massive body is like a mountain and covered in moss-green feathers. A crest of longer red feathers grows from around its head like a mane. The powerful neck supports a large head with a rounded snout and a massive jaw, in which jagged teeth the length of a grown human's arm glitter in the sunlight. They seem to be made of pure gold.
Its yellow eyes are like those of a raptor, as it fixates on the group which is slowly moving through the water to get to the other side. Then it tilts its head a little before opening its giant maw for an earth-shattering roar. It appears as if it has a physical effect on its surroundings, as trees are whipped back, and the earth just before its feet crumbles. Waves spread out in a half circle from the epicenter and wash over the group.
They cover their ears in pain and cower under the howl of the goddess. When it's over, they don't waste a single moment on speaking and begin to run through the water as quickly as they can. Even Kamii, who has been stoically steadfast all this time, is paddling with her cursed arm just to get away from this gigantic creature faster.
Tepeyohuatl slowly steps into the river, the water level barely reaching halfway up to her ankles. There's an undeniable intelligence in her gaze, as she follows them across the ridge. However, it's also undeniable that she's angry, most likely for their trespassing on the jungle she protects and slaughter of the blood apes, which are part of the natural order.
With her sheer size, she will quickly catch up to them. Even though the current isn't strong, the water is still deep enough to impede their movement significantly. But this isn't an opponent they can fight, so all they can do is try to run.
The little dark elf has the most destructive potential among the whole group, but she'll get trampled or devoured in a single bite before her curse counter can reach a high enough number to damage that gigantic dinosaur's body.
Ireyo is the only one who could do anything to that goddess without any buildup time. The Divider is still a massive weapon despite being broken, so it could cut deeply into the gigantic dinosaur's scales. But she can't use her monstrous strength in the water, and even if she could fight, she knows that she won't survive being stepped on by that.
"I'll borrow this." Zancrax says to the rabbit demon, grips the hilt of the broken sword he's carrying and turns around to face Tepeyohuatl. It's still a little oversized even for him, but as he's the only one who has a good footing in the river, he can utilize it better than anybody else.
"What are you doing?!" Ireyo screams in surprise and motions to jump into the water but is held back by Kamii.
"No, we can't fight that!" She tries to calls Zancrax back, but he doesn't heed her words and fearlessly stands his ground against the approaching mountain.
The goddess of the jungle stops for a moment and seems to be surprised by the minotaur's resolve. Then her eyes narrow slightly, and she opens her maw to roar at him. The pressure of her voice is enough to send him flying backward and knock the Divider out of his hand. It reaches the others and propels them across the river, straight onto the shore on the other side.
But it was not an act of kindness. The force is enough to cause Terog to roll across the ground and hit his head against the rocks, while the cart is smashed into pieces on a tree, and its three passengers fly off into the undergrowth. Fortunately, Gram avoids getting skewered by one of the splinters stuck inside that very same tree as he barely misses it a moment later.
Zancrax crashes into the jagged remains of the cart with his back first. If he didn't wear his thick granite-like armor, he would have sustained several deep wounds from that. The Divider hits him on the helmet, but luckily it was only the hilt rather than the blade; it's still enough to cause him to see stars for a moment.
The first back on her feet is Ireyo, who dives forward to pick up her weapon. Swinging it around by the chain, she propels it at Tepeyohuatl's approaching head with the longer edge of the diagonally broken blade. But the goddess opens her mouth and nimbly catches it between her teeth, before throwing her head back. The rabbit demon is pulled along with her chain and flung into the air.
Kamii is the second one up, and she sprints towards the massive dinosaur. With every further step she approaches her, she slows down, until she finally realizes the difference in their sizes. Looking up at the looming mountain on two legs, who seems to be playing with Ireyo by swinging the chain she's holding onto around in a circle, she finally understands the futility of fighting this calamity.
"Ombro Dela Nokto!" The little dark elf raises her normal hand towards the head of the dinosaur goddess and shouts out this short incantation. A muddy cloud of darkness appears out of nowhere and covers her eyes, causing her to open her jaw and let go of the Divider in surprise. The weapon is flung across the treetops, and Ireyo, never letting go of the chain, follows.
Tepeyohuatl's arms are too short to reach her eyes, and even if she could, she wouldn't be able to dispel the darkness that Kamii summoned with magic. She tries to rub her head against the tree trunks, but it obviously can't remove something that isn't a physical manifestation.
"Terog, are you alright?" Gram gets up to his feet and drags himself over to the boar demon, who stays on the ground groaning. Since he doesn't wear any armor, he took the full brunt of slamming into rocks repeatedly. The fact that he's trying to push himself up shows that he didn't sustain a spinal injury though.
Zancrax is shaking his head and looks stunned, but when the tree he's leaning on shakes from the goddess swinging her head against it, he quickly jumps up to his hooves. Sazi and Rolan both seem fine, albeit a little wobbly, as they stick their heads out from the bushes they landed in. When they see how close the massive dinosaur has gotten, they quickly work their way deeper into the jungle.
"Zan, carry Terog. Gram, carry Sazi." Kamii makes this split-second decision while rolling sideways to avoid getting trampled by Tepeyohuatl's giant clawed foot. "We're making a run for it."
"I'm going to find Ireyo." Rolan, lacking all sense of self-preservation, begins to move deeper into the jungle to find the person who cut off his left arm.
"Sazi, lead the way." The little dark elf doesn't think much about what he may get himself into and orders the masked woman, who's getting picked up by the big man. Since he lost his massive shield, he's much faster on his feet than before.
The minotaur helps Terog to his feet and motions to carry him, but the latter refuses it and limps on his own. Since he's too slow, Zancrax picks him up under his arm and against his protests anyway. They follow the path Gram with Sazi in his arms is treading, but quickly overtake them. After all, Zancrax likes to bulldoze through things.
Kamii casts the dark magic spell that blinded Tepeyohuatl earlier one more time to make sure it lasts long enough for them to get a little distance between each other, before taking the rear guard. She hurries after the others, making sure not to lose them in the maddeningly green hell that surrounds her on all sides now.
"I found her!" Rolan's voice comes from somewhere ahead, but the echo from the trees scrambles its exact direction.
"It is not far to Zohigal!" Sazi calls out to the others from a similar direction but much closer. "Do not lose the way!"
Following it, Kamii finds the path that Zancrax has left behind in his charge through the jungle, and sees Gram's wide back ahead of her. Now the only ones missing are the rabbit woman and the one-armed human.
"Rolan, Ireyo!" She tries calling them but receives no answer. Then the bushes next to her suddenly burst open, and the two emerge. Rolan runs past her in a panicked full sprint, while Ireyo chases after him with a furious expression, dragging the Divider after her like a ball on a chain. "Huh? What happened?"
"He picked me up and wanted to carry me!" She sounds angry.
"I just wanted to help." He turns his head and explains desperately. "It looked like you were h-"
But he's cut off when he runs into Gram's back, who has stopped in the middle of the swath that Zancrax trampled into the undergrowth. Losing his balance, he falls onto his back and rubs his cheek, then looks up to inquire about the reason for why he's standing still.
"Why have you stopped?" Kamii preempts his question and looks behind herself to see where Tepeyohuatl is. Then she gets the answer to her question when part of the jungle seems to come alive.
Eyes open among the bushes behind her and leaves move to reveal the shapes of lizard-like, avian-looking humanoids. Their sharp and curved beaks have been painted with various colors that let them blend into the surroundings better. They carry obsidian-tipped spears in their three-fingered hands from which short wings grow that are unfit for flight. What they lack there, they make up with powerful legs sporting long claws that look like they could rend armor.
The flightless bird demons have their spears pointed at various vital spots on their bodies without any prior vocal arrangements. That they possess intelligence beyond that of the apes is clear in how disciplined and organized they are even without an apparent leader.
"These are the Physornis warriors of Zohigal." Sazi introduces them from her position in Gram' arms. Her voice doesn't sound as carefree as she was with the blood apes, but at least it's not as alarmed as it was when the giant dinosaur announced herself. "They are worshippers of Tepeyohuatl and enjoy her protection in exchange for sacrifices."
The latter part causes the group of demons and humans to feel anxious. The way it looks, they'll become such sacrifices.
Moments later, the sounds of bushes and branches being crushed by giant feet announce the arrival of Tepeyohuatl. Her head appears from between two massive trees, and she lowers it to stare at the foreign demons surrounded by the Physornis warriors. The dark magic spell around her eyes have worn off, and she stares at Kamii with the dinosaur-equivalent of a frown. Then she snorts from her nostrils and walks past them.
That's the signal for the bird-men to make the group follow her. It would seem that they will reach Zohigal in a fashion different from how they had hoped they would.
