Chapter 439 (1/2)

Chapter 439

Chapter 437: Holding Ground

CAERA DENOIR

The bottois leapt off the side of the gargantuan branch on which we’d been running Trees larger than even the randiose cathedrals and palaces rose all around us, their branches crossing over and beneath one another in an incois’s flesh began to writhe

His back broadened and fur hardened into spines The purple fla s sprouted fro so close, the Destruction e from him made my bones ache

Two skyrays swerved to pursue us

“On our left!” I barked as beams of soulfire leaped offbubbly raised scars in the black hide

Regis banked hard as a skyray sla butmy seat on his back Purple fire blazed between his teeth, and he ripped a chunk out of our attacker’s wing The fla the beast as it plummeted from the sky

We spun in the air, headed back toward our branch where the others were fully engaged in co, and Eleanor stood up on her bear’s back Regis snatched her in his paws, then wheeled around again, descending toward the portal fra behind us, I watched as Grey pulled Sylvie from Boo Even now, in the midst of such chaos, there was such tenderness to the way he held her

With a sudden burst of pain, a three-pronged chitin spear struckis’s side I hissed with pain and nearly tuis banked hard to avoid a volley of spears thrown by the horde of crustaceans crawling up the tree

“You good?” Regis asked, the concern clear even in his guttural growl

“Yeah,” I hissed through gritted teeth “Don’t slon!”

As I struggled with the spear, several of the crustaceans leapt fro their shoulders expanded out like wings to catch the wind First a few, then a dozen, then ht, my orbitals drew in close Thea shi+eld around us Another spear glanced off the shi+eld, then a small blade

We arrived at the small island of knotted roots just ahead of the, and I slipped off his back, one hand holding the spear steady Boo appeared next to Eleanor with a burst ofhorde as I wrenched the spear free and tossed it aside

Suddenly the gliding crustaceans were in disarray, falling like stones or banking hard away A sh their formation, and I held my breath as Chul ripped the frills off one of theit to go up like kindling before slaether so hard I heard the crunch froave up their pursuit of us and dove into the water to escape hi the constrained pressure his bond exuded, I found Grey, Sylvie in his ar between two branches A skyray dove for him mid-leap, but Sylvie’s spell pulsed, and the skyray froze in ly, and vanished behind a tree

Grey was rushi+ng fro doard and in our direction as best he could with Sylvie cradled in his arms, her body still wrapped in his conjured armor When several crustaceans moved to cut him off, he flashed forith such speed that they were blasted off the branch A couple plummeted, unconscious and unable to save themselves, while the others threw out their frills and drifted to other branches or down into the water

The zone rocked as Chul bashed his weapon into one of the roots leading to our island Wood exploded, burning splinters flying like knives in every direction Flaroup of crustaceans A feere caught in the blaze, while others escaped to the water with enraged, gurgling chitters

A transparent, smokey black bubble of mana appeared around us Chitinous projectiles slah the mana

“We just need to hold until Grey catches up,” I said, considering our options

The strain on Chul’s lazed eyes and erratic breathing Eleanor had ainst her sto palpably frois, the only one of our number who didn’t seem to have been taxed by this battle

The frequency of projectiles quickly increased until the whole shi+eld was tre its fore

Fro ruins of the root that Chul had destroyed, a blurred for toward us The speed of Grey’s passage gusted away the s dozens of corpses beyond

I dropped the shi+eld as he raced onto the knot of roots and into the alcove where the portal fra Grey in pale light as the portal activated

The light dimmed, and the shi+eld reformed above us just before a skyray slaainst the Relictoth, Grey cursed, and my heart sank He had the Compass in hand, but the face of the portal was distorted with static

As if feeling my eyes on hi”

The shi+eld eave out

Phoenix fire, Destruction, and pureskyray at once Its subsonic death knell stole ht my blade around in tirunted in pain and went to one knee as the dying skyray crashed into the water

“Eleanor, help Chul!” I ordered, knowing soe or ould collapse under the weight of these constant attacks

“On it!”

Ellie’s gaze flickered toward her bond, and Boo rushed in front of Chul, taking a spear to the side White light emanated fronature swelled, but the drain on Ellie was clear, even after borrowing mana from Boo

The water erupted in front of e It was broadly e pincers clicked together in place of hands It chittered dangerously, eyeingmoment, then scrambled forward, its pincers outstretched

A bolt of pain ran up ht to bat aside one pincer before hacking acrosswith dark fire I felt a jolt of fear as the sharp edge of my sword drew only a thin line of dark blue blood

One pincer snapped out and closed around my blade My ar The other claw opened wide as it carved toward ht and the next, that the strike would takehit ainst it I stu me solidly on the side of the neck, the pincer’s sharp tip slashed acrossblack over the red steel, and plunged into the h its brain Its furious little eyes rolled, and it slu, I saw Eleanor staring at h I didn’t kno, I knew she had just savedmy wound It was deep, and the bone beneath had broken, but I didn’t think it would be life-threatening in the short ter to reood arm

Inside the alcove, Grey had laid Sylvie down and was kneeling next to her I could just hear the soft words he spoke only for her “you to listen to o We can’t leave until you come back to us I need you to wake up now, okay?”

As he spoke, the pressure of his intent built until it becae, our attackers faltered, pulling back, the zone full of the noise of their alien chittering I could see now thatin from the waters all around us

There was a roar of warning froain in his Destruction forht circles over the knot of roots All around hih to cover the entire island in its shadow, and yet they flowed past each other as they flew like a school of fish Three closed in on Regis, the first h, ripped at Regis’s wing as it passed, and the third sla in the air

Another descended upon the rest of us, its twin tails curled beneath it like hooks As it flew past, those tails lashed out Eleanor threw herself onto her sto when she landed badly on her broken arht one tail in his jaws, heedless as the barb stabbed into his ribs The other deflected against a soulfire shi+eld

The skyray jerked ht, and its tail ripped free Its massive bulk was pulled violently off course so that it collided with a neighboring root before splashi+ng down onto its back, thefeebly as it sank

Waves of fire were rolling off of Chul, holding back a small army of crustaceans Whenever one reached the island, a burst of force, from the many discs of condensed e of roots, sent it splashi+ng back into the lake

And yet there seeis hit the ground hard, crushi+ng a couple of crustaceans beneath him Purple flames licked between his teeth and raced to his paws and tail as he spun, snapped, and clawed at any ht, he shrank, reverting to his norlanced off the s Chul’s body, but an instant later a chintin dagger punched through it and plunged between his ribs In front of me, two of the crustacean creatures juing a net woven fro as it did so A beah the fibers, and I unleashed a wave of soulfire withtheir flat faces away Their scales blackened and cracked in places, but neither were destroyed

As their gazes returned to ht eye of one It screeched and fell back into the water, which sprayed up like a geyser a second later as the bolt exploded The other ducked under another ht my blade in the forked spear and turned it aside, nearly wrenching the weapon froclaw, but the foot of ap between roots, and I fell Mana exploded against the crustacean’s side, but it only rocked back for an instant before its spear caain Eleanor screaht it with s punched throughback both legs, I conjured wind into theht, unleashi+ng a blast of wind-attribute s My attacker was lifted off its feet and sent tu off the roots and back into the water

The kick sent a lightning bolt of pain up , and stars burst beyond ical blasts went off I could hear Chul bellowing his war cry and Regis snarling

Turning over, I experienced a flash of déjà vu as I pulled the crustacean spear froround Nearby within the root cave, Grey was kneeling next to the portal frame and Sylvie His eyes were closed, his brows furrowed in concentration, sweat beaded on his forehead Gentle purple light was radiating fro, but I couldn’t read them

“Grey…Grey!” My voice cracked as I shouted,as I unintentionally put pressure on my cracked clavicle

From the corner of my eye, I watched as Chul ed in a wave of crustaceans as they poured over the edge of the island Toover Eleanor She was curled into a ball and cradling her broken ar freely Even as I watched, two h hide

A sharp pressure broke the surface of the flesh around e blood-red crustacean hadme toward the water My blade ca it off, but already two ers skated across the sliet purchase My wounds screamed with each desperatewaters ofstruck my elbow, and rasp

Rolling over, I kicked furiously, sending out bursts of ith each blow It wasn’t enough

A uillotine

Then…everything stopped The noise, the pressure, the grasping claws, even the shadow of a skyray enveloping the root island

Slowly, I looked down ataway, its face a hideous s of blue blood frozen in the air around its wound Another heldThe third reared over me with its pincer outstretched

Repeated wet crunching interrupted the silence Chul had dragged hi down on un ca drunkenly

Eleanor used her good are of passing out

Finally, I looked back within the cave

Sylvie was on her feet Grey was at her side, supporting her The asura’s eyes were glowing, the gold flecked with a…” she said warily, sagging against Grey

“Everyone, hurry!” I shouted, jerking free of the iwith pain, Eleanor clutched Boo’s fur as he half guided, half pulled her toward the portal fra, and his weapon had vanished He seeis appeared next to hiht Inside, Grey had already turned around and was channeling aether into the Compass

When the relic activated, the portal shi+fted to reveal a ghostly outline of what lay beyond