Chapter 255: Wave Upon Wave

Tarnu

Illdall protect them, this was more than he’d bargained for. Annita and her friends sure did draw attention, and this kind of attention was bad news. He was going to ignore the fact that the girl made his skin crawl since she’d attracted these things. She’d shouted about Goddess stuff, but he’d never expected something this powerful. It was like she was covered in a cloud of poison oak at all times.

His spear bent as he whipped it to smack solidly into the head of this weird treeling that’d come from the dark roots around the hill. It was a stumpy little thing, with pustules of yellow growing from cracks in its bark. Not one of the big things, but any help was help right now. A moment of satisfaction hit him as the creature went careening through other Warped, causing mass confusion.

KILL

He shook his head. That urge was incredibly strong since the Goddess Chosen had done her thing. Every time he looked her way, he wanted to see her bloody body hanging from his mandibles, guts strewn in a beautiful arc of gore.

“Quiet!” he told himself. He was also deep in a fighting mood. That never helped things. Hopefully, Eyes wouldn’t need to stop him this time.

Three more of these stone creatures, put together with unidentifiable flesh and bone, were impaled and tossed aside before they got close to anyone. Holding the perimeter was tense fighting. Some were bound to slip through, and the dragon girl was right. A closer formation would have helped a lot. Shame their being monsters stopped that from happening.

“Dirt mound! South side!” came the riflewoman’s shout.

“On it!” His reply was nearly a roar, and far from his real voice. He hated when it got like that. Meant the monster was close.

Leaving Tangle of Thorns to deal with her section alone, his feet pounded across the stony ground. The snow was giving way to mud as the fighting went on, and they’d been running all over the place. It’d get treacherous soon.

What had been called out was a bit more than a mound. Looked like a small hill had gotten up and decided they were trespassing. Tarnu sighed. This was definitely more of Alruna’s target. Still, he’d answered, and he’d deal with it. Its legs were a strange construction of precious metals, common granite, and bone. The stubby things shuffled along, not going particularly quickly, but that wasn’t the point. If it reached their defended point, the other Warped could use it as an easier bridge behind their line. One that would be impossible to close up.

“I’m with you!” the Druid called, running up nearby. She was a smart one. Always kept her distance.

“Thanks. Got lightning?” he growled.

“Yup! Fully charged! Let’s make this thing rubble and get back to the rest!”

“How arrrrre,” Tarnu paused, reigning himself in. “How are the rest?”

“Fighting hard. I saw Ann go help that thorny lady before I hopped down!”

That meant Alruna was dealing with something else. Maybe taking a break. She was damn strong, but could get tired. Eyes was still on the opposite side of the hill, her antlers barely visible over the stone spires.

They reached the front of the fighting and joined in, pushing everything back. Tarnu would have to go further into the blender of flesh, bone, and everything, all jammed together. Rosalyn could stay back here and do damage. Some Paths had all the luck.

Pushing past Bones, he roared his fury as he lowered his shoulder in a mighty charge. His spear led the way, and he felt a good half dozen impacts as the thing got heavier and heavier in his hands. Other bodies bounced off his, but he didn’t stop to see what they were. His fur would protect him.

Once he got close to the walking burm, he planted his feet and twisted his shoulders hard. The spear bent again as the unlucky creatures impaled on it turned into living ammunition as they launched off the tip. Five bodies hit the giant warped with sickly crunches. One just sailed past it.

That didn’t slow the placid monstrosity. It just kept walking.

The smell of thunder filled his nostrils. He tensed instinctively as his fur raised on end, then an earsplitting crash exploded from the Warped. What had she called the skill? Unleash the Storm? Damn good spell.

The snow on the thing’s back evaporated instantly, and what hadn’t been was thrown in great white clouds from the force of the strike.

Not waiting, Tarnu jumped up on top of the creature’s back to see if it’d done anything. By Bryltia’s bow, it had! The crater should have been just stone and dirt, but not for this thing. Lying just under a good layer of dirt was a strange structure. It looked almost like a house, but made of animal. Beams of bone crisscrossed the interior, holding the creature’s rough exterior up, and a creeping mossy substance had sealed the gaps between. Further in, he could see what he could only assume were organs. Who even knew if this thing needed to breathe? If what Alruna had said earlier was true, Rosalyn would be telling them all about it.

For now, he needed to kill it. He tried to find something that looked weak and squishy, but it all looked awful and wrong. Nothing helped narrow it down. None of his skills were pointing out where to aim like they normally did. Maybe he was in the wrong spot?

No! There! That golden glow was what he was looking for. It was behind several layers of thick bone, though. He’d have to go inside to get at it. His spear would be useless. Well, nothing for it.

He turned and waved at the small woman back on the rocks, casting wind spells with the spear, then pantomimed what he was about to do. She waved her staff back, but didn’t move. Girl trusted him more than she probably should.

He hefted the haft of his weapon, tucking it close to his shoulder. He just needed two steps before he put all his strength into his arm. It shot forward, launching his spear in a graceful arc until it buried its tip into the ground behind Rosalyn. Jeffrey was going to yell at him again for that.

Wasting no time, he turned and jumped inside the monstrosity. His feet, his flesh, bursting organs and other awful shit under his boots. Gods, he was so heavy right now. His thoughts would be going soon, too, if he didn’t get this over with and retreat to gather himself.

He reached out and took an experimental tug at one of the bone struts. It resisted when he pulled with one hand, but both made the thing creak and bend. He put his back into it and heaved. One came free with a crack and a sucking noise as the roof collapsed slightly. Even as he watched, the bone on the “floor” was starting to regrow in little spires.

BREAK! TEAR! KILL!

Tarnu let the beast take over. His mind was pushed back as feral strength filled his limbs. His fur exploded as his body changed further and further. This was always a dangerous thing to do. Every time he did it, he risked not being able to take control back from the thing he became. Still, in situations like this where none of his allies were around, it was incredibly useful.

He watched as massive hands covered in fur grabbed the next pillar and snapped it. It only made the creature more excited. It was like a hound on a trail. Nothing mattered but its goal and what it had to tear through to get it. Next thing he knew, his mandibles were crunching through another pillar, then a third was crushed by a two-fisted hammer strike.

There! Hidden in a bone cage was something critical to this creature. His body tried to slam its way through, but the cage resisted. Something that strong had to be important. He roared. No! No, he didn’t. His body roared. He was separate from this thing. This thing that decided it just needed to smash harder. That tore its flesh and broke its bones against the monstrous cage of hard calcium. Tarnu watched in abject horror as his bones rejoined and smashed the cage again. It cracked, then splintered, overwhelmed by the sheer repeated force.

A collection of black sacks was turned to nothing but puddles in an instant.

The gold went out.

The Warped stilled.

Tarnu focused. This was the hard part. Pulling the monster back and putting it in that dark place. It fought him, breaking its body against the bones around it as Tarnu slowly wrestled it into submission. He was exhausted by the time he was done. Fur and chitin still covered his shoulders, but he was back in control. Barely.

The monster was falling apart around him. The core set of organs had been structural, apparently. It took effort to pull himself free of the carcass, but he did it. He needed to get back to Bark and get some of his stamina back.

As he pulled free, wind rushed past him, taking several Snow Crabs that had scaled the larger creature. Rosalyn was covering his retreat. That was good. He moved as quickly as he could. Bones stepped aside smartly, then went back to fighting.

He got to his spear and collapsed. His breath was short, and his body ached. Only now did he realise he was drenched in Warped blood.

“Oh no. Tarnu, are you ok? Are you still you? You look really wild and crazy, and should I go get Bren? You’re covered in blood!”

The girl’s worry was a welcome sound. “I’m fine.” His voice was still gruff, but far from the feral growls it had been. “Get Bark. Stamina’s low. He’ll help.”

Rosalyn nodded and darted off.

Tarnu lay there, listening to the awful sounds of combat around him, praying that he wouldn’t have to do that again.

Knowing that he would.

Bren Hedera

This was far more than they had expected. Kat was shouting tirades at her nearby compatriots, keeping them going. Another salvo of bones headed directly for her was scattered with a wave of his wand before he got back to healing.

He was still doing well, considering what was happening. One of the other support casters, a tiny creature that seemed to be part mouse, had a spell to help restore Mind passively. He’d been running as hard as he could, and hitched a ride on Bren’s shoulder a few times when he needed a break.

The Warped spewing forth from the woods was Bren’s focus right now.

Twenty more. West. Lucia was keeping him updated on the arenas of combat he could not see. These damned stone pillars were great for defensive positions, but terrible for obtaining a solid read of the fighting. That alone was putting him on edge. Kat had always possessed a protective spirit, but his duty also called for keeping those around him alive. Knowing that Ann may be bleeding out on the other side of the hill and he would never know did not sit well with him.

Kat was, out of all of the fighters, actually doing the best. Her armour was performing its duty admirably as the woman did her best to mitigate the rest that got through. She had focused today, and was fighting like the defensive Path she had chosen called for. Even if she was not a caster, she knew Bren was not a bottomless well of healing, nor that she was the only one his attentions demanded.

“Eyes! Twenty more to the east!” Bren called to the towering woman.

“Oh! On it!” she chirped, standing again and loping off in the direction. She had been resting. It had been nearly twenty minutes straight of constant combat. Without Tali and Bark keeping their stamina up, they would have fallen back to secondary defences to allow fighters to recuperate.

“Kat! Eyes moving away! Backup unavailable!” he shouted down the slight hill.

“Gotcha! Come on, laddies! Let’s give these bastards what they came fer!” The mad cackling that followed was merely a performance. Kat was keeping people’s spirits up. That was not something most magic could do.

A shockwave followed by a roar of thunder made his ears ring. Rosalyn was going for it, this fight. She had nearly infinite sources to stack her lightning on, and their other caster was doing more to hinder enemy movement.

Minue was a powerful caster in her own right. An earth-focused mage, she had been erecting walls where needed, opening pits, and making the footing both better and worse where she chose. Sadly, her spells were focused on utility and lacked any damaging skills. Regardless, it was a blessing to have her there. Even now, as she passed in front of Bren, she raised the earth around Kat and her neighbours, giving the Warped less room to bypass the fighters. Her abilities sadly had a time limit, though. Otherwise, setting up more thoroughly would have been their first task.

“Shit,” Bren muttered to himself. A rock came hurtling from somewhere, headed to the man on Kat’s right. He spent a fifth of his absorption and erected a dome over the woman. The rock hit, shattering against the shield, with shrapnel exploding outwards. Five shields, or just that one, and that one avoided the complication of stone shards getting past his protection.

Even with all of that, Kat took a couple to her side, forcing him to place another Delayed Reconstruction on her. She was fighting well enough that the passive healing kept her in a satisfactory state.

More healing went the way of the other two. Direct heals that supplemented their own regenerative properties. Once he was happy, he started pacing to the other half of the area he was covering.

He had to duck quickly as a rib clattered off the rock by his head. Two more were more accurate from behind him, though. Pain bloomed in his shoulder and lower back. The shoulder hit deep, but the lower one was shallow, thank Illdall. They still hurt.

“Bark! I need some help!” he cried.

“What can I help with! Oh. Oh! Um, how do you want me to… uh.”

“Just pull out the one in my shoulder. I can handle the other myself,” Bren groaned.

Bark took a couple steps closer.

“And try not to hit me?”

Bark’s lips curled in a smile. “I’m always trying.”

Bren braced regardless as the man neared. Something grabbed hold of the spine in his back. He felt that grip push, digging it in slightly. It was only slightly, though, as Bark wrenched the rib free of his shoulder. He felt the tears welling up and tried to choke them back. Pain could be dealt with, but it did not stop!

“Bren? Hey, Bren? You okay?” Bark’s concerned question finally hit him. The man looked at the bone in his hand with disgust and tossed it away.

“Will be… in a second,” Bren groaned. Twisting to grab the projectile in his back was immensely painful, but he did it. The thing came free, and pain relief flowed through him as magic repaired the punctured flesh. Precious magic that could have been used on someone else. “Get back to playing. I’ll be fine,” Bren panted.

“If you’re sure.” Bark put his flute back to his lips and restarted the jaunty tune. Maybe it was just Bren’s pain, but it sounded more tense this time.

Once he could walk without too much pain, Bren started off to where he’d been going in the first place.

Being far more careful, he rounded the corner behind a shield. No ribs this time. Not at him, at the very least. A dozen shields appeared, catching bones and a random tree branch that something had hurled. The snake person he had seen was not doing fantastically. He could deal serious damage, but had no natural defences. This was not the first time Bren had assisted.

“Noa, please try dodging some of the attacks!” He cried, pumping some healing into the fighter.

A rib grazed Bren’s cheek. He’d been distracted. It took more concentration than he wanted, but he avoided much more in the way of damage. The ranged Warped seemed to be catching on that their support casters were keeping the fight going.

Strange. That was a tactical adaptation. The larger or more complicated Warped would be able to comprehend something more subtle like that, but not the rabbits.

Taking a moment, Bren ducked behind a stone pillar and peered over. He scanned the treeline, trying to see if there was anything there that might be directing the little ones. Maybe it was a colony-type creature that puppeted others to its whims?

He could not see anything that would explain the behaviour. Nothing was hidden in the trees that he could see.

Lucia, watch for a commander. These things are adapting, and I cannot see what is driving the change.

Will. Stay safe. No hurt. Lucia’s worry was humming through their bond.

Bren’s affirmative reply was silent, but sent with love.

He looked back at the battlefield.

Something was wrong.