PreCursive
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Chapter 248 - War-Rager
🕑 Added 2024-10-25 17:00:14 +0000 UTCWell, everyone charged but Renauld, Kazuma, and Bella that is. As the Healer, Renauld stayed behind to watch our backs. Bella, too, because she was part of the team meant to watch him. I knew she would be cranky from missing out on the fight, but she was surprisingly good at squad-based teamwork. Probably came from being a ship's Captain. Out of the corner of my eye, I was grateful to see that Kazuma had the good sense to stay with our Healer and look after him. His katana was drawn and held in a ready stance, as he stood protectively in front of the Gnoll. Bella as well, cutlass held at the ready in case the Oni got past us.
But that was the last thing I saw before battle was joined.
Venix and Azarus led the charge as the veritable tip of our spear. All four of the Antium samurai’s blades now glowed a cool blue, trailing frost in the air as he lashed out at the Oni towering above us. Azarus hadn’t attached his hammer and shield to the four lengths of chains that sprouted from his armored back, as he was sometimes wont to do. Instead, they hooked onto four separate daggers sheathed at his mid-back, which rose up to glint in the dim light like the fangs of the proverbial serpent behind him. This was a new strategy for the Dwarf, and something that he had dreamt up over the last few months. All four of the chain spears whipped out at the Prime as Azarus banged hammer against shield mockingly.
The Oni dodged backward fast enough to evade Azarus’s daggers, but not Venix’s hoary blades. This one was strong, yes.
But not anywhere near the level of Venix.
Still, the Oni only lost two fingers on its right hand from the blisteringly fast swipes. It staggered back briefly, howling in pain as thick black blood sprayed into the air, but still had the senses to strike back with a kick aimed at the Antium. Venix skipped out of the way, but the foot was so large that Azarus had to raise his shield to block the blow. It impacted the enchanted, hand-forged steel of the kite, ringing like a gong. The dwarven blacksmith was driven back several feet from the force of the strike, but he retained his footing thanks to his chain-spears anchoring him in place, buried deep in the stone. Still, the Oni had accomplished his goal. Both of the frontline fighters had been driven back, if only momentarily. But it had also been driven back.
Straight into Liora and I.
While Azarus and Venix had captured the Oni’s attention from the front, us former Nocturne Agents had circled behind it. And when that foot came reeling back after being rebuffed by Azarus’s shield, we struck. Simultaneously, we burst forward and dug into the Achilles tendons at the back of the Prime’s ankles. Liora at the left one, and I at the right. This was a tactic that the Oni Hunters had taught me to great effect during the hunt I’d been on. I suppose they’d shown it to her as well.
Her claws, trailing black smoke, crunched through the thick hide of the Oni to find the tendon within. Using both hands, she outright ripped a portion of it out to dangle from her fist, oozing blood darker than pitch.
I was comparatively much more methodical. My daggers simply cut through the hide of the beast, instantly severing the tendon. I still got sprayed with disgusting black blood, though, causing me to grimace.
The reaction from the Oni was immediate.
Its legs folded from underneath it, and it dropped its knees, howling even louder in pain. But even that wasn’t enough to rid the monster of all its senses. These things were cannier than most gave them credit for.
The Oni’s entire body glowed bright blue for a moment, and then a shockwave of electric blue static exploded from the surface of its skin. I had already skipped back after my attack was successful, so I managed to completely dodge the attack, whatever it was.
But Liora was a hair too slow.
She had tried to leap back at the first hint of glow from the Oni, but for the first time since I’d known her, her speed wasn't enough to save her. From what I could see, the rapidly expanding field of static just barely managed to graze her foot.
The reaction was immediate.
The Gnollish former assassin immediately went limp and wasn’t able to react in time to prevent what happened next. The Oni swiped at her falling form before she could hit the ground, and grabbed her.
Its enormous azure hand closed over her whole body, and it brought Liora’s immobilized form up to face level. Azarus and Venix immediately stopped in their tracks, unwilling to strike out at the Oni while it was using one of our friends to protect itself. It almost seemed like the monster was using her as a shield. The two of them tried to circle around the kneeling monster, only for it shuffle in the stone of the plain to keep them in view. It swiped at Venix, only for the Antium to parry the obsidian claws in a shower of sparks.
When Azarus’s chain spears threatened to strike out at the Oni, darting back and forth while the Dwarf himself stood ready with shield and hammer raised, the monster raised Liora higher. In a clear threatening manner, it opened its mouth of black fangs to drool over the still immobilized hand-to-hand specialist.
While this was happening, I was getting into position. I’d thrown Thorn Cloak up once the Oni’s attention had fallen away from me, causing me to fade into the background, if only slightly. But that was enough in the heat of battle for me to maneuver around to the Oni’s right side unseen. I’d been waiting for the right moment to strike, but it looked like I had to just take the risk now.
Perfect was the enemy of good enough, and perfect would get my friend’s head bitten off.
Vis Maledicta Exactoris.
Under the effect of Thorn Cloak, my body ballooned into its monstrous state. The enhanced strength and speed of the transformation combined with the still active Might of the Wyrdwood, compounding on each other.
I crouched, activated The Scintillant Blade on my daggers once more, and exploded upwards in a leap.
Blades poised directly at the arm still holding Liora.
My brilliantly burning daggers, combined with the strength and speed of my ascension, sheared right through the tough skin of the Oni. The arm was sliced in half right through the humerus, and the Oni reared back and howled in agony. The severed limb flopped down onto the stone below, the hand twitching open enough for Liora to groggily roll away from it. All this I saw from above as, at the apex of my leap, I snapped open my wings to slow my descent.
Azarus and Venix hadn’t wasted their chance.
The dwarven smith’s chain daggers speared forwards to immobilize the wounded Oni, two in opposing shoulders, two in opposing hips. As it was held in place, Venix crouched, and his chitinous body glowed a faint, ominous crimson. His robe waved in a wind I could not feel, causing the cranes upon it to almost appear as if they were in flight.
I only saw his foot twitch once before he disappeared from sight. But I sure saw the results.
The howling of the Oni immediately ceased as its head was separated from its shoulders. It tumbled through the air, high enough that it was briefly at eye level with my slowly descending form. I swear that our eyes briefly met as it died, emerald on gold.
To my consternation, it chose that exact moment to explode into a cloud of Miasma. I coughed with monstrous lungs as I fell through an unexpected cloud of foulness, as the main body dissipated on the ground.
By the time my feet touched the ground, I saw that Renauld and Bella had already hurried over to the still-dazed form of Liora and were inspecting her. Honestly, I think Bella was more fretting than inspecting, from how she was hovering over our friend. It looked like the claws of the Oni might have grazed her, cutting through her armor to leave small gashes on her arms. I wasn’t worried about her, though. Renauld knew his craft.
Instead, I was watching Kazuma. I hadn’t dispelled my transformation yet, and I’m guessing he hadn’t been expecting it. The man had frozen at the sight of me, his black eyes bulging in their sockets as they beheld my scaled, chiropteran features. I noticed that he had yet to release his white-knuckled grip on his sword, still held at the ready.
I snorted, released my grip on The Scintillant Blade, and sheathed my twin blades at the small of my back. “What’s the matter?” I called out to him in my altered, warbling voice. “Never seen a transformation Skill before?”
Kazuma’s blade lowered, and he looked at me in pure disbelief. “Hart?”
In lieu of answering, I dispelled the rest of my active Skills. In seconds, I had returned to my…relatively normal human state. Turning away from him, I looked over just in time to see Azarus bend down and pick up a real monster of a Core. I whistled at the sight of it. The pure white orb had to be the size of my fist, and I’m not talking about my current one. It shone faintly in the Dwarf’s open palm as he inspected. I wandered over to them as Azarus turned to Venix and offered it to the Antium. “Yer kill, yer Core,” He said shortly.
Venix shook his head. “I have no use for it. It is too low level for my own crafts. You may have the Core.”
“If ya say so,” Azarus shrugged, reaching around him for his pack and dropping said Core inside. “Ain’t gonna turn down free materials.”
As I joined them, I returned their greeting nods. “I’m guessing we’re right in the middle of Oni territory by now.”
“Just so,” Venix answered, as Kazuma warily joined us, eyeing me suspiciously. I paid him no mind. “Random dens such as that are common across the island, now that we’re out of the jungle. That was not quite an elder, but it was certainly no juvenile. Possibly a challenger who was driven out of the deeper reaches to bide his time for a return.”
Our conversation was interrupted by Kazuma speaking up. “Who…are you people?” He said, half in astonishment, half in suspicion. “I’ve never seen an adult Oni dispatched so quickly. Even dedicated teams struggle to recover from such an ambush.”
I couldn’t help a smirk from crawling over my face, as Renauld and the girls joined us as well. “Guess we’re a cut above the rest,” I said, before meeting Liora’s eyes. “You alright? Good to go?”
Liora briefly bowed her furry head. “Yes. Apologies for the misstep. I misjudged the beast’s speed.”
I shrugged, but it was Bella who spoke. “It’s alright. We all make mistakes,” She said with a smile at the Gnoll, before directing a glare towards the rest of us. “Don’t we?”
I nodded along with the others under her glare. Sure, sure.
The way you stick up for your friend is cute, Bella. I didn’t say that out loud, though.
I didn’t need another bruise from her.
Instead, I addressed the group. “No reason to stick around. Let’s go, people.” At the round of answering nods, we moved away from the impromptu battle site, hopping across the ravine the Oni had apparently lived in. Once we were on the other side, I noticed someone was missing. Looking back across to the other side, I saw that Kazuma was still watching us with a queer look on his face.
“You coming?” I called across to him.
My words appeared to knock him out of his daze, and he nodded at us. “Yes!” He returned, hurrying and joining us on the other side. Fully regrouped, we set back out for Mt. Umetsuji once more. The volcano had been growing on the horizon for some time now, and the plumes of ash that wisped from the caldera were ever more visible to us.
Honestly, I welcomed it. It was colder out here on the plains than it had been in the jungle, and the closer we got to the volcano, the warmer it had been getting.
I was almost looking forward to investigating the ‘squat beast’, as Azarus had termed it.
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