Capítulo 132: Conflagration
Ulric gazed at the onslaught bellow, "Remarkable," he mused, "the arcanists we paid for definitely delivered, this wasn't in the terms. I guess they have pretty good battle sense, to have some of the whisperers actively lure the chimeraans over here was definitely more than I paid for,"
Ulric combed through his hair and swept away the dark magic concealing cloak that had partially blocked his view.
"I guess that goes to show how much they take their oaths," Ulric hopped to another branch hidden from a view as a log had flung itself to where he was stationed.
"But what is weird is the extent of trade we have developed with them," he hopped to another branch.
"They are definitely bound by the terms of the contract, stones for service,"
"Hmm, that begs the question, what are the using the stones for anyway." Ulric stared at a chimeraan that was chasing a few knights in disarray.
The shadow walkers had fully retreated for the meantime while they let the chimeraans do their job. They didn't want to get caught in the struggle. For such beasts all humans were foes.
The regiment was now divided into four groups to deal with each of the chimeraans. They divided further into two groups making eight, one was baiting the chimeraans, and the others were attacking.
"Interesting tactic," mused Ulric as he stared from shadows of the trees.
. . .
Heinrich fled as he saw a dreadful sight, a flying chimeraan with massive wings of a bat and the head of the wolf hounded him. It didn't notice his aura rather with its acute sense of smell. It seemed that it was trying to lure him further into the core.
He dashed madly, he had seen enough from Reitz and Ezra that these creatures were capable of being organized. He fled at the prospect of being surrounded enough so that he would meet his demise. Even though he thought it a waste of having uncovered more useful information on the Blackfyres, he deemed the necessary information crucial enough to be reported.
He sped away but he tore a part of his cloak in haste as a branch clung through the scruff of his collar as he tried to dodge a boiling blast of water from the chimeraan.
"What the," he gasped, as water vapour rose up. "Hot water?"
After a few minutes of being chased, the creature about faced and retreated.
"Odd," breathed Heinrich. He didn't attempt to fight it he just hopped as fast as possible because if he were to be hindered more of the chimeraans might have shown up.
Heinrich rubbed his chin, "I wonder if those two will survive?"
The last time he saw them they were fighting eight chimeraans and two were already downed. He had seen the full ferocity of Ashbringer, and it was not something he could directly contend with.
He furrowed his brows, "I need to find Ulric," he sped up and went back to the direction of the camp.
. . .
Ezra leapt as his father made another explosive spell, however, they were both running out of mana. His father's attacks became more precise as he was trying to power through. Ezra backed him up with his gun but, he had been missing most of the shots. If they hit most of the time the creatures already had a carapace of rock that already had been conjured.
It was really annoying because in normal times he would have just thought of how the chimeraans worked in an anatomical level, but the biting rage that he was experiencing kept him from thinking rationally, he put all his effort in curbing the wrathful emotions that were boiling in him. His magic seeped and it even seemed to be increasing in the rate by which it affected him, thus more and more magic was drained from him.
Reitz was already down to a little less than half of his magical capacity, but this didn't stop him from tearing down a few beasts. Ezra had told him some of the weak spots that chimeraans had and just directed some spells to the beasts.
"Are you alright, Ez?" Reitz asked as he dodged a molten stream of lava bursting forth from one of the mouths of a gigantic shelled snake-like beast. He had noticed that his son was not feeling quite well, during the start of their journey his movements had been deteriorating. They had become sloppy and off timing a fair bit.
"I, I'm alright," Ezra lied, he didn't want his father to worry about him especially they had bigger problems at hand, they tried to push forward back to the camp, but the coordinated attacks of the felbeasts and chimeraans hindered their advance and they even found themselves further in the inner grove.
Reitz had become worried by the state they were in. He was contemplating on whether to brute force and expend all his magic to push forward. It seemed they had gotten in a worse situation, than before. It was frustrating that every tactic they did was met with a response by the enemy. These beasts seemed very intelligent and could organize in such a way that they would be pushed further back at the expense of their lives. It was as if they had reached a point of no return and thus Reitz wanted to gamble.
"I'm gonna, bet everything here, Ez, just stand back." Reitz took a stance with his feet widely apart as if to prepare for something. The chimeraans had stopped the attack for the meantime and just observed as they encircled them.
"Don't dad, that's dangerous. That's an all or nothing scenario, maybe I can think of something," Ezra furrowed his brows, it took all his mental fortitude to reply in a consistent manner, let alone think. It felt the same when he was two, more or less, but at least now he had more control. He had thought of escaping by powering his boots enough to be able to fly away, but it was practically impossible especially with the mental toll the ringing inside his head was doing.
He could not escape by himself let alone bring Reitz with him, he had kept practicing day in day out since he acquired the boots but some of the motions were too complex, he even tried to use it in tandem with AMP to balance his flight, but it required tremendous amounts of magic plus he had to stare at his feet to actively correct his trajectory. If he were to use this tactic now it would not be viable as Reitz's weight would not let him stabilize, plus there were already a few chimeraans in the air eyeing them from escaping through the treetops.
They were trapped.
"Don't worry Ez, I know you aren't feeling that well, right now, let your dad handle it okay?" Reitz spoke without looking at Ezra.
"Dad, don't," Ezra whispered.
"Stay put okay, I'm gonna push forward, just walk along the trail I blaze and don't be too careless."
Reitz put all his magic on his right leg, Ezra had even taught him how to precisely inject the right amount to the muscles to move. He thought it was brilliant.
He moved toward a tree and kicked upward, two chimeraans from the air dove while, two other beasts cast a fire spell and hurled a boulder toward him. He evaded the spell but he used the boulder to propel an attack to a flying chimeraan right in its weak spot which obliterated it in an instant.
Reitz looked around in the brief moment to see if every one of the chimeraans were after him. He leapt to a branch where a vulture-like beast with wolf-like claws tailed him, while two others disrupted his momentum using a wind spells to shake him off balance.
Reitz kicked toward another tree to evade. When he had finished scouting, he was dismayed to see that not all of the chimeraans were attacking, a select few were eyeing Ezra who was moving forward as well. The attacks were too coordinated and directed at one goal, keeping them in the circle.
He didn't have any of it as he aimed his right hand at chimeraan who was about to peck him, he made his flaming sword detonate as the beast drew near.
Ezra tried as all that he could to stay sane as he arduously dampened his own rage, he tailed his father and kept some of the chimeraans off of him with his gun. He didn't one to give in to the rage for many reasons, one was that if he did, he would definitely be stuck because the tendency was to fight as many beasts as he could, another was his planning abilities though inhibited already in the present, would even further deteriorate.
He tried breathing in with his nose and out with his mouth to keep himself calm, but this had little effect. As he tailed Reitz, downing their thirteenth chimeraan a boulder flew by.
"Ezra dodge," Reitz hollered with a worried tone, he didn't even look back at Ezra. They split but were met by two charging chimeraans with the bodies of elephants who had the heads of wild boars. Both Reitz and Ezra were hit.
"Ooof,"
The two were dragged further in.
But as they were about to roll away. The creatures stopped in their tracks. The force flung them. Both father and were unscathed but now they were in the dark.
"Ugh," Reitz groaned.
"Are you alright, Ez?" Reitz asked.
"Ye-yes," answered Ezra. He was dizzy from the impact.
Suddenly there was a noise that seemingly came from the centre of the grove.
"That is an odd sounding trumpet," Reitz furrowed his brows.
Ezra perked up his ears and mustered all his will power. He knew that sound. That annoying throbbing high pitched sound that only alarmed when there was an emergency.
Suddenly a concrete wall in front of them rose up. The rising was swift.
"Fuck," Reitz gasped in shock.
The noise and kept on resounding, Ezra's vision was distorted and seemingly impaired.
"The walls, their moving," Reitz shouted as he grabbed his son and ran forward.
Ezra looked up and saw a black cloth fluttering toward him.
"What's that," he whispered while lazily looking up. The rage that he felt was now intermingled with other emotions, it was overloading his brain, yet his curiosity on the black cloth remained.
Ezra reached out and touched it and clung to the tattered cloth, while Reitz sprinted forward. The motion of which made him nauseous.
"Dad," Ezra mouthed.
"Hush my son, I'm here. I will protect you,"
"Don't" Ezra faintly whispered, as his head bobbed.
"Don't what?"
"Don't go to where the sirens are," Ezra said.
"What are sirens?" asked Reitz as he kept on speeding forward.
But there was no reply. Ezra was unconscious.
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