The Arcane Lord, page 15
"I help you, and you return by stealing my belongings?!" a muffled and feminine voice echoed. The owner of the place had returned, and she wasn't happy. "They’re coming for me! Where is my magic spear?!" she shouted, and then he heard the fire explosion.
Julian rushed back to the cabin as the battle screams grew louder.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Before Julian could reach the cabin doorway, Liz and Rayra jumped out of it with speed, a wall of water erupting behind them.
"What?!" Julian asked with his sword in hand, his instincts making his heart pump fast.
He watched Liz's mouth move to reply, but before she could, a burst of fire erupted from the window. Liz had to summon her water wall again.
This time, Julian was hurled with them. The fire's impact against the water blew them away. Julian hit a tree and fell face-first to the ground. His face was wholly soaked in mud and leaves.
"All these years alone. I thought you'd be of some help, but you're just thieves!" the woman hissed beneath her covered face. She wore an utterly dark cloth that seemed strangely magical. It somehow drank in the day's light and made his eyes falter upon a closer look.
"We didn't steal anything—"
Liz's voice was interrupted by a fireball coming her way. She was almost unable to deflect it with her magic. Rayra was closer to the attacker. She nocked an arrow and aimed directly at the enemy, who moved fast in response. The arrow flew towards the woman's heart but encountered only a tree trunk behind her.
For a couple of seconds, all Julian could do was watch the display of skills. Arrow after arrow, the stranger dodged at inhuman speeds. With every dodge, she got closer to Rayra's position, zigzagging her way towards the beastfolk with a grace Julian had only seen Rayra perform. When she was close enough to the fox-woman, she extended her hand. A burst of fire appeared—not enough to burn her skin, but a small explosion that scorched her clothes and blew her away again.
Julian sprinted towards the enemy when he saw his companion flying and crashing against a tree trunk. His sword at the ready, his mind swirling with rage and his body with mana. The Lord was ready to kill, but his foe was also prepared.
She dodged his first swing and hit him with a flaming punch to the shoulder. Julian absorbed the impact and struck again. His resilience surprised the foe, and she almost could not dodge his following downward strike. She spun on her heels. Julian felt his blade hit the fabric of her dark clothes before getting deflected by it. It was like striking a heavy piece of metal, but surprisingly enough, he could see the cloth flapping against the wind.
She quickly ducked and swiped her legs at Julian's, making the young lord fall flat. His back landed full in the mud, and the young man was unrecognizable. As he looked up, the fire punch descended upon him again, but he rolled to the side. He could smell the burning leaves on the ground as he rolled to his feet, already swinging, but she fell back with a quick jump.
Julian thought he had her full attention, but the enemy could even dodge another arrow from Rayra and a drowning bubble of water from Liz. When the girls attacked, he sprinted towards the enemy. She was a beast, and his sword wouldn't do the trick.
Feeling the mana rushing to his bracelet, Julian gave up on rationalization and let the burning arcane magic explode from his hands. The strange ball of energy flew fast towards the enemy, and she ducked it. The mana hit the cabin, and the explosion created an enormous crack close to the window. She looked over her shoulder, and Julian saw hate growing even further in her stark blue eyes.
Before she could attack, he released another ball of energy. Mana wanted to escape Julian's body and burn something, its traget would be the strange enemy. She kept dodging and dodging, but she wasn't confident approaching him this time. The arcane magic was enough to make her fearless demeanor disappear. She could dodge arrows, throw fire magic, and even deflect strikes with her strange armor. But his blue arcane energy wasn't something she wanted to play with.
Still, she kept dodging, and Julian knew the mana in his body was about to run out. If he didn't finish her, they were doomed. He considered a strategy to face the woman as she avoided his strikes, and an idea flashed in his mind.
The cabin behind her was now just a massive amount of destroyed wood and clothes, but she was beyond caring. As soon as Julian stopped throwing his magic, she returned to the offensive. The enemy rushed at him with her fists in a fighting position, her hands enveloped by flames as her steps got closer. Liz and Rayra approached quickly, assuming Julian had no mana anymore.
They could finish her if they fought, but it was too risky. His idea was better.
As she got close enough, Julian released the mana from his hands and swiped it to the side. Instead of a ball of energy, a whip was formed in Julian's fist, connecting instantly to the enemy's legs, dropping her to the ground, just like she had done with him before.
Julian watched as his companions pounced on the enemy and pinned her arms. He slowly moved towards her, a smile blossoming on his face. That was the most brutal fight he had ever been in, and he almost lost it.
"We didn't steal anything from you," he said as his steps broke leaves and branches on the ground. "You should've listened to what Liz said."
When those words left his mouth, the woman instinctively looked to the side and locked eyes with Liz for a few seconds. Then she looked again at the tree canopies as if Julian hadn't said anything.
"What? Aren't you going to hiss at us now?" Julian asked with his brow furrowed. The stranger's demeanor changed on the spot, and her gaze towards the sky sent shivers down Julian's spine.
"It doesn't matter," she said blankly, any trace of rage slipping away from her tone. Then Liz looked up, and Rayra followed her gaze. "I thought I had the time, but it found me. We're dead," the stranger said ominously as Julian heard the flapping of wings in the sky.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
The jungle became a mix of red and blue flames, crackling as the flapping of wings grew louder and louder. Every sound, every movement, and every reaction had been shadowed by the sound coming from above. Unlike the enormous salamander who tried to eat them hours before, the creature approaching now was in no hurry. The wings whooshed through the air slowly, as if it was strolling towards them.
Julian felt his brow get wet as the monster approached, the stranger's words echoing in his mind. If she was scared of this creature, how was he supposed not to be at least wary? His instincts kicked in hard. It was fight or flight, but he didn't believe he could escape this. He didn't have someone to distract the monster for him. His two companions were upholding his previous distraction, and her demeanor was that of the condemned.
"What is it?" Julian asked hurriedly, getting close to the woman on the ground.
She kept looking up, ignoring his question.
"Answer him," Rayra said, forcefully pressing her knee against her arm.
"Death," she finally replied.
The trio traded glances and kept silent for a couple of seconds. All they could see from the stranger were her eyes under the strange cloth helm, but they were already void.
"Only The Last knows how many years I've been in this hell, escaping from them … to die like this," she muttered, more to herself than to anyone else.
"Release her," Julian pressed as the wings got closer and closer. The girls looked at him as if asking, 'Are you sure?' he nodded positively. "Sit her up,"
The woman sat and looked directly into his eyes, but it was like looking into a dark room. Julian approached her and crouched before the foe.
"Look at me," he said gently. "We didn't steal anything of yours. There's another person here with us, and they got here first. Now, please help us deal with this. Should we run? Can we fight? There are four of us. We're all mages," Julian said, but the woman didn't reply.
"She is a water mage, and she is a shapeshifter who can do some magic with her arrows," Julian said, pointing to the girls, but they received no answer. "You know the magic I can do. You saw it, and you saw my sword," he said, showing the weapon to her. The woman's eyes darted from his face full of mud and leaves to his left hand with the bracelet and to his right one with the sword. Then her eyes locked with the ruby on the blade's pommel. Her gaze grew bigger. It was like she saw a ghost.
Then she attacked him.
At least, that was what he felt at first. He even heard Liz and Rayra rushing to his aid, but she wasn't attacking him. She was cleaning his face, removing all the mud, as if she wanted to really look at him.
"By the Last!" she exclaimed, her muffled voice full of sentiment Julian couldn't define. She grabbed his shoulders with strength and was about to say something when the flapping of wings finally towered over them.
"It is here! We can't run. Our only chance is to defeat it. This monster is ancient and strong. It'll not die so easily, but we may have a chance together. We need to attack in conjunction as fast and firmly as possible." She was already getting up as if she wasn't near catatonic seconds ago.
The girls seemed as confused as Julian, but the monster above them shifted their focus to their impending death.
In front of the sun flew a humanoid body, at least two feet taller than Julian, with bat wings double its size. The sun made the monster appear like a massive black shadow. He started to discern its features as it approached them slowly, like a heavenly being.
"Let her make her little speech. As soon as I attack, you follow up," the stranger snarled as the monster became clearer.
It was a woman, or at least it looked like one. She had scales emerging on her arms near the elbow and legs near the knee, extending to her extremities, forming reptile like clawed hands and feet. Her scales were as red as blood and shone in the sunlight. Her skin above the scales was pale as milk, and she was practically naked. She wore a black adorned top covering only the middle part of her breasts, showing a good part of her features. Below the hips, she was covered by a loincloth as black as her top.
Even being almost naked, the creature had something regal about her. The circular horns on her head only made her even more peculiar. Her hair was as straight as silk and cut in the middle of the neck, with a fringe near the top of the forehead. In another situation, Julian would have been impressed by her features, but now all he could read in her expression was ‘Death.’
The devil was there to kill them. By the way she smiled, she would delight herself in it.
“Oh, I didn’t come prepared for a full meal,” she said, pouting as she neared the ground, some ten feet away from them. The strange beastfolk was one of the dragonborn from the murals they had seen in the dungeon. “Still, I’ll make good use of your meat. I’m tired of eating my kin. I’ll probably save some of you for later, except the invisible one near the cabin. That one disgusts me. And you … I’ll leave for last,” she said, pointing one of her sharp claws towards Julian while she held a sly smile. Near the ablaze cabin, steps rushed to the woods. Whoever followed them was just there, sneaking and running away as the monster sensed its presence.
“You’ll never touch the boy,” the woman hissed and moved away from Julian, her fists being engulfed in fire.
“I can’t remember the last time a human fell here, and you’re already dating the newcomer? How rude of you, the host needs their rights…” the beastfolk said melodically, walking in the air towards them one step at a time.
“You disgust me,” the woman replied.
“Oh, that’s unfortunate because you make my mouth water,” the Dragonborn said, licking her red lips and closing her wings behind her back as she finally touched the ground. “I have actually dreamt about killing you more than once. Some of my brothers and sisters told me to give up. They said that you were too smart to get caught. All of them laughed when I replied that a human couldn’t be too smart for anything.” She shrugged and smiled further. “I guess I’ll be the one smiling at the end.”
Then she rushed towards them, a red sword materializing in her hands from thin air. The sword looked as if it were made of black smoke one minute and then solid metal. The Dragonborn sprinted with her long legs directly towards the woman in front of Julian, as if the other three didn’t exist.
"Now!" the woman shouted as she stepped to the side to give Julian space and made her fist of fire fly towards the enemy. At the same time, an arrow flew towards the creature's chest and a ball of water flew towards her face. Julian didn't waste time and sprinted to meet her midway. She was as good as dead by his calculations. No one would escape such a coordinated attack.
Still, scales formed on her skin in every place she was hit. First, red scales formed on her stomach as the flames hit, but they didn't burn or even delay her movement. Then, a more considerable amount of scales formed on her chest and engulfed the arrow point. At last, it covered her face, including her nostrils and eyes, before disappearing one second later, removing all the water from the bubble Liz had thrown. In that simple second, she assumed a draconic feature, and Julian recognized it. The lean face, the sharp teeth, and the thin features … she resembled Fenrir ShadowFang perfectly. She was her progeny and looked just as evil.
His blade met hers, and the impact almost made him fall to his back. She slashed again. In this second attack, Julian felt she was restraining her strength as if she was playing with him and didn't want to hurt the young Lord.
That made his heart race in his chest. Mustering all the strength he could, he pressed against her, swinging from left to right and from up to down. Arrows slammed into her, as well as bursts of water and fire attacks, but her scales stopped everything. It was like her skin had a life of its own, and its only objective was to keep her alive.
Rayra transformed into a fox and rushed towards the enemy as Julian kept attacking. He had to find a breach to make his arcane blast land on her, but he was afraid of wasting his last spell and missing it. He would need to be sure he would hit before trying. The nature of arcane magic could be enough to defeat such a monster, so he needed to try. Rayra leaped at the creature, her fangs aiming for her neck, but she found only scales. The Dragonborn didn't even try to remove her. Rayra kept thrashing and rending, trying to tear through the scales, but her efforts were in vain.
The monster kept deflecting Julian's attacks with ease, even when Liz approached the fight as well and coordinated her dagger attacks between Julian's swords strikes. Sweat threatened to enter his eyes as his hands got sore from the strikes, and still, the Dragonborn didn't flinch.
Only when the third woman came swinging her fire fists toward the monster's face did they find a good angle to attack.
The woman came from below, delivering an uppercut on the monster's chin and making her head snap up with the impact. Julian hit her sword hard with force, and it dropped to the ground, but no blood was drawn. Then came Liz's dagger attack. She aimed for the neck, the small weapon connected with skin, flesh, and bone. The scales, milliseconds too late responding to the attack, only engulfed the blade after the creature had been hit.
Upon the strike, the Dragonborn lowered her head, and anger blazed on her face. A scream that seemed to be locked up in her throat for centuries erupted from her mouth. The sound, with such potency, blasted all four of them, sending them flying away.
When Julian hit the ground, his ears echoed and buzzed. He had to work hard to get on all fours, find his sword, and get up. The creature's sonic attack made his world tumble from one side to the other. He had serious doubts if he was hearing anything or if he had gone deaf.
He shook his head and looked up. In front of him, the Dragonborn slowly became more evident. She was halted in the middle of the woods and had something in her mouth. After a couple of seconds, Julian finally had his answers. Yes, he wasn't deaf, and she had Liz's dagger in her mouth, licking her own blood.
"Oh, so that's the taste of it," she said, delighted. "I'm impressed. You all are powerful. I'll stop playing with my food." She had her sly smile again as her sword disappeared from the ground and reappeared in her hand.
"If she was just playing before, we're doomed," Liz said beside Julian.
"We aren't," he muttered, looking directly at her. "Lock her up, Liz. I can kill her." The dagger wound had made Julian more aware of the creature's capabilities. Attacking at the right moment would be enough to hurt her, and considering the damage his magic could do, it could be fatal.
Liz nodded at him, and the other two seemed to hear his command as well because both rushed toward the enemy, who just halted and waited. Protected by her cloth armor, the fire-wielding woman took the front and started trading attacks with the Dragonborn. This time, the enemy tried to hit her repeatedly on the chest. She knew that if she kept bashing on the same spot, the strange armor would fail, maybe just like hers.
Rayra fired one magic arrow after the other at the monster, making Julian's mind race.
"Shoot every arrow at the same spot!" he shouted, and she seemed to understand his point. The Dragonborn also realized she had shown a weakness because her eyes widened. She started to attack even more fiercely. The scales forming on her shoulder deflected the first three arrows, but the scales caught the fourth one and then spat it out. The fifth hit true, and the monster screamed, throwing the stranger away and flying towards Rayra with inhuman speed. Julian tried to catch up and reach her, but the beast was already on Rayra. Her two hands grabbed the collar of Rayra’s clothes and threw her towards the horizon. She passed several trees in the air, and Julian couldn't see where she fell.
The monster looked at him with angry determination, assuming a more bestial demeanor. Her scales slowly engulfed her entire body, and her true form became apparent. In a rage, the devilish creature flew towards Julian, and he dodged to the side, making her crash against a tree trunk and tear it in half.
