Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Four - 234Vess steadied Atar and Alister both with a hand, as the streets tilted and sank. The stone beneath her feet drained away, and when Vess turned she saw why. A collection of hexagonal pillars shot upward after the Arcid's own wild growth, and Vess could see Felix atop it.
Fight for us, Felix. Vess turned her attention forward again, giving her friends a boost as they all ran back to the horde of monsters. We will take care of things here.
"Atar! Kill spread the fire ahead! Alister, can you give us a lift?" Vess shouted.
Flames surged by way of confirmation, and on their next step three pillars of translucent blue Mana sent them flying upward. They were launched over the field of flames stymieing so many monsters, the wind rushing in their ears as a roar edged with a faint chiming. Atar screamed and Alister laughed.
Spear of Tribulations!
Conjured once again, six of them uplifted her two friends, slowing their fall. Vess, however, came down like the Hand of the Twin's Immutable Justice.
Dragon's Descent!
Vess hit among a grouping of Ghostfire Simians, crushing two beneath her boots while the impact damaged dozens more in a twenty foot wide crater. The Tempered Skill boosted her Endurance and Strength enough that landing was never an issue, not for her at least.
Dragoon's Footwork!
Vess lashed out, her spear a scalpel. Each thrust was a kill, each turn was just enough motion to evade their counterattacks and set up one of her own. In seconds, her landing area was clear.
Atar and Alister landed shortly after, their Skills unleashing a torrent of fire and force. Attuned to fire the Simians might be, but Atar's own was a magnitude more destructive. It seemed to eat away at anything it touched, while Alister's attack were punishing blows that their hide did not do much to mitigate.
"Cut a path to the shield wall!" Vess ordered above the din of battle. "Atar use your flames to cut the monsters off if we can. They need time to flee!"
"On it," Atar panted, finishing off another Mana Potion. He only had a few left, but Vess didn't tell him to slow down. There was a glint in the man's eye; his failure with the Arcid stung. "Flank and burn. They won't live through the night."
"I'll lead the way," Alister said. He brandished his new rapier, fully enchanted by Hector and the Coldfires. "Just don't kill yourself."
Atar and Alister embraced for a quick moment while Vess tried to ignore the pangs in her own Spirit. Felix and Evie were both risking their lives up there, beyond the Inquisition's defenses. She hardened her heart, and let her Dragoon's Footsteps flow through her Body and Mind. Monsters ran at them, spectral flames coating the monkeys and the Wretches in equal measure. A path between them appeared to her.
Silver spears floated around her, and Vess advanced.
"Our people won't last long before they run!" Vess said between steps, ducking beneath a stream of white flame. She pivoted and spun to the side as a Lesser Wretch buzzed forward. Two of her spears detonate against its carapace and sent it reeling backward, the storm of air Mana enough to rip it in two. "Stay close!"
They pushed their way through, each step a contest of stats and Skills, pitting their greater abilities against sheer numbers. The beasts seemed to be moving in uncanny concert with one another, something that was slowly overcoming their allies. An endless tide of unthinking beasts was one thing, but if they had the simplest of tactics at hand it would prove deadly. And it was.
Through the press of bodies, Vess saw members of their camp fall to claw and scythe, fire and paralytic bite. She pushed all the harder, throwing herself into harms way and screaming out Taunts to draw the enemy away from their lines. The horde came at her, their eyes entirely too intelligent for her liking. Her spears gathered, and the three of them thrust through the monsters before letting their Skills explode outward.
"Field of Flames!"
"Pillars of the Domineering Sentinel!"
"Seven Tribulations!"
Fire, force, and air Mana consumed their center in a whirlwind of power and death. But still, the monsters charged. Surrounded, the faint chime Vess had heard increased as they penetrated the horde, until it was all but subsuming her senses. It felt like sickness and rot, a line that tugged at her core despite her resistance. Vess flared here Elemental Eye and her Affinity, pushing both to their limits between strikes.
Elemental Eye is level 52!
A sickening glyph blazed in her vision, branded onto the abdomen of every enemy. Vess gasped in recognition. "They're Marked!"
"What? Which ones?" Alister panted. His rapier was a blur of parries and thrusts.
"All of them!" Vess responded in disbelief. From what she understood, a Mark created a Spiritual link between the beast and the Skill user. It allowed direct control, as well as a host of unknown applications. But what sort of abomination could handle all of them?
"We have to cut it off, somehow!" Atar added. Imbued Sparkbolts whirled around him like a cyclone of flames, scorching any that came too close.
"Abdomen and chest! Aim for them with a Spirit-based Skill and you'll sever the connection!" Vess advised as she pressed deeper. At least I hope so. There was little literature in breaking a Mark from a beast, so rare was the ability to inflict them. They couldn't afford the horde to think.
Dragoon's Footwork!
Spear of Tribulations!
They would just have to kill them all.
Unfettered Volition!
Abyssal Skein!
Felix vanished into the blackened smoke and bright Mana vapor, the Void crawling over his flesh like a living thing. Just in time, as a spear of hardened vine thrust out of the miasma, missing him by inches.
Cloudstep!
Cloudstep!
Cloudstep!
Felix spammed Cloudstep, creating tiny, crackling footholds in mid-air. Each step revealed his presence but allowed him to reorient his trajectory around the forest of vines that thrust upward at him. Felix spun, extending his clawed hand out and digging deep into the side of a vinestill cloaked, he fell while attached, spiralling all the way down through the thickening smog.
Cloudstep is level 29!
...
Cloudstep is level 33!
He emerged into chaos, as hundreds of redcloaks fired their light bolts at the Arcid that stood stall atop their bulwark. Felix kicked off the vine, clearing it just as Skeleton realized where he was; thorns bigger than him erupted from the vine he'd just vacated.
"FIEND!" the Arcid howled. "You will die!"
He didn't reply, relying on his Abyssal Skein, and sure enough the Arcid's eye-fires did not track him as he fell. The moment he touched down on the battlements, however, Felix hit the metal hard enough to dent it and send a wave of sparks into the sky. Vines immediately raced for him, all but ignoring the redcloaks and their attacks.
Felix burned Unfettered Volition for all he was worth, dodging aside from the rising tangle of vegetation and still pushing himself forward. If fighting Mud had taught him anything, it was that he had to get close in these fights. The Arcids would not be taken down by his paltry magic.
Unfettered Volition is level 51!
...
Unfettered Volition is level 55!
Tooth and claw, his instincts urged. Instincts of the Primordial that he had become. Bring down your prey and sup on their lifesblood.