Six vertical pillars of blue, kinetic Mana slammed into the earth, right atop the three charging Reforged. It stamped out the flames on their bodies, while simultaneously staggering them for a brief second. Long enough for Alister to drag him out of the way of their mauls, which slammed into the ground hard enough to split it wide open.
"My savior," Atar smiled.
"Don't be daft next time, Atty," Alister growled. "Maintain distance."
"I know that!"
Unfortunately, one of the three recovered quicker than the rest. Without a sound, it lunged for them both.
"High Bulwark!"
An Iron Rank sped ahead of the strike, slamming his shield into the earth. There was a scream of tortured metal as maul hit shield, but Vyne barely screamed at all. "Be-behind me!" Vyne gasped, before his own Mana rose up. "Carapace of Steel! Stone Thews!"
Atar stuttered to his feet, furious. "I'll not be saved by some Iron Rank! Crown of Ignis!" A triumphant, multi-tined coronet manifested entirely of flames. Orange Sparkbolts tained by a deep crimson snapped around him, motes that became bowling ball sized orbs of flame. "Burn."
The other six Reforged did not sit by and wait while the meatshield and mages made their stand, and instead stampeded across the dry gully toward the nearest targets. In this case, that meant the Haarguard.
Damn liabilities, Evie groused. Her chain gathered at her waist and she lightened her mass with her Born Trait. Lighter, she fairly flew across the battlefield, weaving between the savage burning fields Atar was creating. She was too far, though, and the Reforged too fast. Meanwhile the guards had stopped to make a burning stand, of all things. They're gonna die.
Arrows of enchanted wood and ice hit the Reforged like machine gun blows, but it barely dented their Health. Kylar zipped ahead, meeting one of their charges alongside Davum, their weapons blurring with the Stength and Agility behind them.
"Kata of the Butcher Bird!" Kylar shouted, and his already speedy longswords became looping whorls of enchanted steel. A heavy maul struck down at him but he danced aside, letting his whirling blades turn it aside with a surprising amount of skill.
"Poisoned Breath!" the Orc bellowed before a venomous green cloud sprayed outward to envelop the Reforged. The power of it was not inconsiderable, and Evie even saw it wither some of the less hardy plants close by.
The Reforged were not even inconvenienced by it.
"Wanderers die!" they screamed, vowels thick in their mouths. "No eyes! No wings!" They swung their mauls and their Mantles of ice Mana redoubled, quickly coating the ground in a thickening frost. Davum slipped and caught a maul across the back, smashing him into the earth and deforming his armor.
"Davum!" Kylar shouted. "You!"
Whatever Kylar tried to say was lost as a Hoarhound pounced on him from the clouds of ice fog and rock dust. Its horse-sized body carried Kylar's fifteen feet before they landed with a sickening thud.
"Kylar!" Kikri howled before unleashing a bombardment of arrows twisting with heat and force Mana. The projectiles hit the Hoarhound in the flank, sending it stumbling aside before it angled it's metal-mangled head in the Elf's direction. It bit the next volley of arrows out of the air with a snap of its false-jaws, their magic doing nothing to the sigils that burned bright across it's face.
Kikri reached for another arrow, but she was out. There were no trees in the gully to fuel her Green Shaping. She backed up, nerves clearly fraying, and tripped over a stone outcropping. It wasn't much, but it was enough.
The Hoarhound lunged
and had it's snout bashed in by her bladed chain. It tried to howl in pain or dismay, but the chain twisted, altering its direction to wrap around its jaws before it became so damn heavy it sent the hound's head slamming to the earth.
"Bad dog," Evie puffed. "Lie down. Ice Spike."
A literal spike of ice formed in Evie's hand, moulding over her fist like a frozen dagger. She punched once, twice, three times into the Hoarhound, but its hide was too thick. The creature scrabbled at the earth, pulling at its weighted head with incredible strength. It stood on shaky legs, and its eyes blazed with madness.
"Damn, I'm a bad match up for ice monsters," she said before shrugging. The former frost wolf lunged again, leading with Evie's own bladed chain. "She isn't, though."
A blue-white partisan exploded out of the Hoarhound's belly as Vess landed atop it, pinning it completely to the ground. With a savage twist, she ended it. The mutilated creature fell, it's organs turned to chopped salad.
"Come. We will end the Reforged together," Vess said before leaping away, her Born Trait sending her soaring through the air.
"Yeah sure, right behind you," Evie groaned. With a flick of her wrist her chain came untangled and snapped back to its shorter length. But she barely took a step when the ground around her grew suddenly soft and treacherous.
"Shit."
"Ah burnin' Night! We got Wurms too!"
Felix's eyes were drawn from the battle to see Evie spiralling her chain around her body, defending from something that was leaping about her so rapidly it was a faint blur in the dust.
"How many?" Felix shouted out.
"Two? Three? They're movin' so fast I don't know!"
"Christ, it just keeps getting better," Felix hissed. One Wurm he was confident in fighting off, maybe two, but more than that he wasn't sure. Everything was happening so fast, seconds crowding on top of one another. Two of the Haarguard were down, Harn was still grappling with the one-legged Reforged, and he didn't even know where the Henaari went. He hadn't gotten a kill notification for her, so she was still alive. "Hold tight!"
Felix took a run up and blasted across the field, spinning his Mana through his channels in a familiar pattern.
Stone Shaping!
The rock around Evie loosened, turning to that pudding-like consistency before Felix shoved his hands roughly apart. Mana Skill met his Willpower and Strength, and he leveraged the hell out of both of them until the ground around Evie was ripped entirely free of the earth. Two Wurms dangled from the chunked and disrupted stone, disoriented and disadvantaged but not for long.
"Hit them hard!" he shouted at his friend. Her chain shifted from defense to offense in a blink, blades and spikes twisting like the weapon had a life of its own. It coiled and struck, wrapping around one of the Wurms. The creature bellowed, thick orange spittle oozing from its maw.
Influence of the Wisp!
His Will and Alacrity latched onto the both of them, pushing as hard as he could.
A Wurm (x2) Has Been Enthralled For 2 Seconds!
Blue-white flames ate viciously at both Wurms as they hit the ground hard. Felix didn't let them do much more than hold them in place, however. His hooked khopesh severed their heads in the space of a heartbeat.
You Have Killed A Wurm (x2)!
XP Earned!
"Damn, Felix," Evie wheezed. "How fast are you now?"
"Not fast enough," Felix said, looking at the two Haarguard on the ground. Harn had finished his opponent and had drawn away the rest from the Iron Ranks. Kikri and Nevia had pulled the two of them away from the conflict.
Before she could offer him false words of comfort, Felix moved on. Pit called to him from above, pointing out another target.
Wyvora lifted herself from the rockslide she found herself within. For a panicked moment she couldn't find her aphim, but the hooked spear was simply a stride away. She stood and through the settling rock dust, Wyvora saw a wild battle.
They're...fighting them off? The Humans were facing off against several of the Reforged monstrosities, and to her surprise they were holding their own. The abominations were a lot to handle, even for her Journeyman fighters. She saw a few of their number had fallen, but many had not.
Then she saw him. Their leader.
Not the one encased in metal, the one with the angry Spirit and burning axes. No. The other one. The one that shone like the sun to her senses.