Chapter 86 - The Final Night (Part Two)

As the men rapidly approached the cart, we broke into our formation. 

Flare took the vanguard position, flanked by Ivy and me as the main damage and support. 

Bracing ourselves for impact, I decided to strike first. Slamming my staff into the ground, I quickly filled the ground in front of us with Earth mana and lay in waiting. 

As soon as we saw the movement of the enemies, I activated the spell I had prepared, Entrapment. The moment the large, bronze-skinned man dashed toward us with fury, the ground gave out beneath him, dropping him and two other attackers into the ground over twenty feet deep. 

The moment their feet touched the bottom of the pit, the second effect of Entrapment activated, forcing the dirt that I had compacted into the wall to violently return to its original position, trapping the attackers in dirt twenty feet deep. 

The other two attackers immediately backstepped, allowing Ivy to launch an arrow at the roughly woman-like shape, hopefully hitting its center mass. 

What we were not expecting, was what came immediately after she launched the arrow. 

As the arrow cascaded through the air, the rough figure launched itself forward, through the treeline allowing us to catch a glimpse of our attackers. 

The thing that came out of the woods was not a human nor a demonoid, but a race of beastfolk I never knew existed until now.

Instead of it being a roughly human person with animal-like features, it was something more akin to a werewolf. Standing on two hind legs, was what looked like a large armadillo, with claws instead of hands and a snout-like face.

"Petty human weapons mean nothing!" The were-armadillo yelled, as the arrow simply bounced off its thick scaled hide. 

Why does everyone talk during fights in this world?

Pointing my staff towards the charging beast person, I launched three Eisdamons towards it, hoping to gauge its strength. 

As the large crystals of ice slammed into the beast, it staggered only slightly as the spears shattered on impact. 

"Useless magicians!" He yelled as Flare dashed forward, clashing and locking her sword against his claws. 

As the clawed beastfolk traded blows with Flare, his ally rushed out of the treeline towards Ivy and me, sensing our weaker physical ability. 

His ally, either surprisingly or unsurprisingly, was not a fellow were-armadillo. Instead, this beastfolk bore a resemblance to an elephant person. Complete with the large ears and trunk you'd expect. 

"Back up Flare, I can take dumbo," I say, as Ivy shoots me a strange look but goes to back up Flare anyway. Man, I wish someone understood my references. It's a weird world where I can't quote things and have people get it. 

"Who're you calling an idiot huh?" The elephant man yelled, drawing twin swords and charging at me. Man, talk about a stereotype huh.

Sticking my hand out towards him, I channel divinity into my palm and begin to quickly chant.

"What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine. Release unto me all that rightfully belongs to me. Despot's Grasp." After two years' worth of practice, I was finally able to master my original divine spell, Despot's Grasp. Sure, it's not as dangerous as the other two that the party described for me, but it's not like anyone can teach me how to use this stuff! 

As the golden energy launched from my palm and wrapped itself around the elephant person, I felt myself getting stronger by a margin I couldn't even imagine achieving myself. 

Stupid talent cloak-wielding assholes. 

As the energy flowed into me and out of the elephant, I shot myself towards him at breakneck speeds, conjuring a blade of ice into my right hand. 

Clashing with the elephant man was a one-sided slaughter, as he hadn't realized his lack of cloak until his sword swung much slower than mine. 

Yet at that moment, it was already too late. The blade of ice slashed him, deep, from the top of his right shoulder to his left hip.

Not wasting the opportunity, and before he was able to re-apply any cloak, I stuck my staff into his chest.

"Absolute Zero," I say, as the beam of pure ice energy pierced through his body, freezing any flesh it made contact with on the way out.

However, I'm no longer some fool. A wounded warrior fights that hardest, and if he can use even a hair's breadth of light magic, it could spell disaster to let my guard down.

Leaping backward at full force, proved just how right I was to be careful, as he had re-filled his right arm with a cloak, and swung his sword to take out my head. 

Thankfully, his wide and desperate swing left him wide open, allowing me to fire off another blase of Absolute Zero, freezing and destroying the loxodons head. 

Turning my attention over to the battle between the were-armadillo and the Flare Ivy duo, they were fairing well. The armadillo had gotten a few good blows on the duo, but they had done the same, turning the fight into a battle of attrition.

The only issue with a battle of attrition, was the lack of a partner for the armadillo, turning him into a bloody mess, constantly losing blood and stamina as time went off. 

Just as his partner fell and I began to turn my focus onto him, he dashed backward and put his hands up, the universal sign of surrender.

"* *****. ***** **** **** **. * **** * *****." He said, tears forming in his eyes as he fell to his knees, speaking jibberish.

"Uhh, can anyone understand what he's saying?" I ask, turning to look at Flare and Ivy, as they looked back at me and shrugged.

However, that moment of distraction must have been what the armadillo-man was waiting for, as once our focus was diverted from him for a moment, in the next moment, a dagger flew towards me and lodged itself into my throat, sending searing pain throughout my body and forcing me to drop the concentration required to keep my spells going. 

"No!" Flare yelled, dashing at the man as I fell to the floor, gripping my neck. 

Pain.

Pulling the dagger out caused me an excruciating amount of pain, yet that was nowhere near as severe as what came next. 

Panic. 

There's liquid rapidly filling my throat, as every breath I took caused no air, only blood to further fill my lungs and throat.

Healing. Healing magic. 

Canceling every other spell I had going, including the dome that protected the cart, I slammed healing magic into my throat, causing the internal and external wounds to heal.

Leaning over, I conjured a powerful gust of wind in the back of my throat, causing me to painfully throw up nearly half a liter of blood, tearing my throat to shreds. 

Once again filling my throat with warm healing mana, I could finally once again pay attention to the world around me.

Lifting my head up and turning towards the battlefield, I saw a sight I was not prepared to see in the middle of the night.

Flare was shining like a small sun.

Jutting out of Flare's back, were two additional sets of arms, both made of molten lava, both wielding blades of fire. 

Flare was on the warpath, and the were-armadillo stood a snowball's chance in hell against her.

In a matter of seconds, the man was torn asunder, and the arms of lava and fire disappeared, causing Flare to double over and fall to the ground in pain. 

That was Flare's trump card, a spell she called Avatar of Flame. The spell itself was very diverse, allowing Flare to conjure up to four additional limbs and any weapon made of fire she could imagine. 

Typically, she would use the spell to conjure additional arms and swords, turning the tide of a close-quarters fight in an instant. 

The issue lay in the formation of the spell itself. Although she was immune to the fire and lava themselves, given that was how the spell was designed, she was not immune to the heat that a spell like that gave off, sometimes leaving her back with burn, and her lungs filled with hot, painful air. 

Running over to Flare, I quickly placed my hands on her now bare back and began to heal her burns.

"I told you to fix that spell before you used it again!" I scolded, which was true. The first time she used that spell was in a duel with me, the backlash of which lost her that duel.

I had told her many times to fix it, and that she should avoid using it until it was fixed, yet every time she put it off.

"Shut up and heal me." She chided through based breaths. 

"Whatever, at least the battle is over before you burnt yourself out. Be more careful next time." I said, funneling more healing magic into her body, focusing on her lungs over her back.

"Aww, catch feelings for me little faery~" She teased.

Yes, obviously.

"No? What's there to like about someone with no brain." That is what I actually end up saying, I'm not interested in any unrequited love right now.

With a bit more back and forth, it seemed as if the final night ended in less disaster than I would have thought.