Headed by a Snake

Chapter 456 Stop The Bleeding

?"Salt, have your gunners open fire on the first gorgon," Tycondrius ordered.

"Aye aye, Sir!" Cecil Salt saluted, before hurrying back to his firing squad.

"Letalis FIRST!!" Tycon shouted.

"Guard SECOND!!" Tanamar responded, hovering overhead.

"Brightstars THIRD!!"

"Snowy Village FOURTH!!"

With their targets assigned, Tycon loosened his curved sword from his scabbard.

Guild Letalis needed to defeat their target quickly. Only then could Zenon focus on using his wind magic to defend the other tent-groups.

"Us before them," Tycon reminded the Centurion.

Zenon grit his teeth, "I know, Optio... I know..."

When the first appeared, it was greeted wholeheartedly by loud cracks of Turathi gunfire. The gorgon roared in pain and frustration, stampeding fearlessly towards Tycon and his allies.

Tycon nodded to Korr.

The Flaming Rage Knight held her sword over her head... "?SOUL-SCORCHING... BLAAAADE!!!?"

Tycon drew his own sword, "?Orochi no ken WO KURAE!!!?"

Slashing their weapons... nine mana-created snakes rushed forward, each encased in deadly, burning mana. They were likely hot enough to irreparably damage the gorgon's soul.

"(WHAT THE HELLS ARE THOSE THINGS??!)" The metal bull screamed in open panic.

"PURGE!!!" Tycon shouted.

"CLEANSE!!!! KILL!!!!!!" The Brazen Guard collective roared in response.

Tycon sprinted at full speed towards the gorgon, his sword reared back and ready to cleave it through its body.

The two-armed, four-hooved gorgon responded by smashing its hafted halberd into the Dungeon stones and holding a palm out.

A spell? Gorgons were creatures of magic. Mages amongst them were unheard of-- but it wasn't entirely impossible.

Tycon slid to a stop, readying his curved blade to block or defend...

"(HOLD ON!!!)" The gorgon roared as he desperately swatted at the flames burning his metal hide.

...After a moment of confusion, Tycon's gaze narrowed to thin, furious slits, "Why the hells would I 'hold on'?! We're ENEMIES, you buffoon!!"

"(Y-yeah, but-- but still... Just give me a moment,)" The gorgon huffed.

Tycon leapt forward, slicing a deep, horizontal line into the bull-centaur's metallic chest.

"OW!! AUGHHH!! (Seven hells, man!! Come onnnnn!!)" The injured gorgon snorted, exhaling a pale greenish gas.

Within seconds, the colored smoke collected and wisped up towards the ceiling-- an effect from the supporting Zenon's wind magic.

Athena and her Arcanite blades levitated at Tycon's side... "Sir Tycon... Why does that sound a lot like the old Tyrion language?"

"Try not to think about it, young lady," Tycon shook his head.

Turning back to the gorgon, Tycon raised his voice, "Hurry up, YOU!!"

"(Alright, alright... Almost...)"

The duration for Tycon's ?Taste the Hydra Blade? soon expired... and the gorgon was finally able to put out its soul-scorching flames... "Whew... (Done! NOWWWW I'm READY!)"

Tycon had dashed to the side well before the gorgon could fully recover. He sliced upward, cutting deep into the creature's lower abdomen, then stabbed the point of his weapon right-underneath where its lowest humanoid rib would be.

Both subsequent attacks left more grievous wounds than the first-- and the gorgon didn't even flinch.

Idiot.

Tycon side-stepped a heavy halberd slam and easily dodged the kicks from bull-thing's front hooves. The gorgon was Gold-Rank and had the speed to match... which was far slower than the Adamantine-Rank constructs the Brazen Guard had fought earlier.

Thus far, Tycon didn't even have to use any defensive skills.

"(HOLD STILL, YOU... YOU-- DEVIL-GUY!!!)" The gorgon bellowed.

"NO!!!" Tycon shouted in response.

"(PLEASE?)"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!"

"(Let's just-- ergh... trade hits! One for one!!)"

"Lay down and DIE!!"

In the course of the next few moments, a painful layer of frost covered the gorgon's hind legs, holy spears stuck in its hide, and the metal on its right shoulder glowed white-hot. Still, the gorgon did not fall.

"SALT!!!" Tycon shouted, "What the HELLS are your lot doing?! Aim for its VITALS!!!"

"I GOT IT!!!" The large lumbering form of Mister Lawrence barreled forward, breaking from the ranged line.

? William Lawrence, Bronze-Rank Human Heavy Gunner. Guild Letalis. ?

Knight armor was designed to defend against common weaponry-- notably longswords and crossbow bolts. As a design necessity, a proper set of armor had to allow an armored class full mobility. A Knight or Shield Legionnaire or Heavy Gunner had to be able to leap onto a horse or dash across the battlefield to meet the enemy front line in close combat.

Still, seeing Mister Lawrence full-on-sprinting, thick cantankerous plates clanging about as he ran, was... nothing short of awe-inspiring.

"(I-- I got it, Monsieur Baron!!)" Lawrence shouted in the Kingdom's old language. He stopped only ten fulms away from Tycon and got to a knee, aiming down the sight of his scattergun.

With a satisfying boom, the weapon fired. Shot and shrapnel launched at fantastical speed towards the gorgon's bull-head. In a shower of pink mist and blood, the gorgon finally loosed an agonized, high-pitched scream.

"(I.. I CAN'T SEE!!!! THIS IS-- I CAN'T FIGHT ANYMORE!!!)"

Tycon rolled his eyes, "What do you mean, you can't fight?!"

"(My... MY EYES!!! AUGHHH!! IT HURTS!!!)" The gorgon wailed. It dropped its weapon and covered its face with its hands, sobbing pitifully.

"Ugh..." Tycon groaned, "You daft cow, you have OTHER senses, don't you? Can't you sense our movement from vibrations in the ground?"

"UHUHU" It cried.... "(I.... I can't...)"

Oh. Maybe that was just him.

"Ahem," Tycon cleared his throat, "Can you sense the mana fluctuations in the air?"

"(I can't do that NEITHER!!!)"

"Can you... smell my general location?" Tycon offered, quietly making a hand signal to Athena.

At his direction, the littlest Vanzano arranged her swords in front of and above her, allowing Tycon to step on the blade flats as if they were stairs.

"(Oh. Ohhhh.)" The gorgon put down its hands, clenching its fists in excitement... which unveiled its grinning face. Its eyes were ruined and blood ran freely down the torn metallic flesh that remained, "(YEAH!!! I can do that!! I CAN DO THAT!!!)"

It tilted its head... "(Smoked venison and mint tea?)"

Tycon leapt off the final blade, smashing his adamantine scabbard into the back of the gorgon's head. Propelled forward, the gorgon's snout hit the stones. Grabbing the massive fool's massive head by the bull-horns, he smashed the fellow's face several more times against the floor.

Korr finished it off with a ?Brutal Blade? stab to the back of its neck.

One down.

Tycon hastily observed the state of the battlefield. To the right, Guild Snowy Village's front line was failing... and Guild Brightstar was not doing much better. To the left, Bannok was fighting spread out and defensively, taking great care to avoid their gorgon's petrification breath.

This wasn't a trap set for two Adamantine-Ranks, enacted by a hundred well-prepared adventurers. This was a filthy skirmish full of exhausted, shite-morale men and women struggling to survive.

Tycon had a choice... to help the Brazen Guard forward team, which would free their two Gold-Rankers to rotate...

...or to 'stop the bleeding' by supporting the weaker guilds.

Protecting his stronger assets was the wiser decision. There may very well be tougher tribulations they'd encounter after this one...

However... could the weaker members of the collective hold out until then?

? "Tactician!!! H-help!!" Duelist Ptolema, the leader of Guild Snowy Village, called out to him.

No. It was highly probable that they would all die if Tycon left them alone.

"Wh-what do we do?" Athena asked, her voice low, a pink spray of gorgon blood marring her face.

Tycon clenched his teeth hard... and made a decision counter to his logic... and pandering to his emotions, "LETALIS!! Assist Guild SNOWY VILLAGE!!!"

...

The area was well lit where the Brazen Guard collective was fighting the gorgons. Adventurers wielded torches amplified by magic or artifice, weapons enchanted to radiate light, and weaponry made of divine light. Some of the battlefield illumination consisted of flames hot and bright enough to burn souls.

Very few of their number could see well in the dark and shadows... The Elven Hunter, Felinus, was deceased and therefore absent. The Dark Elven Priestess, Ariadne, was quite busy in keeping her husband alive and in good adventuring condition. That left Tycon as the only one to notice a hooded figure shrouded in the shadows of the cavernous walls.

...and he noticed them too late.

The lithe figure outstretched their pale hands and performed the somatic gestures of a spell Tycon was unfamiliar with.

A triad of emerald-green globes materialized around them... that split into five and into thirteen. Raising a hand, the spheres shot up and outward, above the battlefield... where they began to diffuse green smoke. Thick and heavy, the clouds began to drift down towards the men and women Tycon very much wanted to keep alive.

« System, analyze: Spell effect. »

? Poison Globe. Second-Circle Necromancy. Inflicts heavy poison damage to targets. ?

It was a simple spell without extraneous effects, but effective. The Iron-Ranks amongst them would be debilitated, but the Bronze... they would all die or be rendered useless.

"ZENON!!!" Tycon shouted, pointing upward.

The Centurion whipped his head around, panic on his face for the briefest of moments, "I-- I got it, Optio!!"

With a wave of his arm, Zenon's wind magic kept the noxious fumes at bay... which also meant that he was no longer guarding against the gorgons' petrification breath.