Unbound

Chapter Three Hundred And Sixty Nine - 369

Chapter Three Hundred And Sixty Nine - 369

Felix found two squads battling an altogether different sort of enemy. Greater Ratlings, each one as big as a tiger and just as fierce, they were accompanied by a swarm of their Lesser brethren. Blades and Bones engaged them directly while Henaari used their polearms to stab over their shoulders. A small number of Fists were weaving through the mess of smaller foes, dispatching them as quickly as possible with their weighted gauntlets, while the Arclights dropped sparking bolts from the sky along the Greater Ratlings' backs. Vess, wonder that she was, stood atop two of her own floating Spears and was shouting out orders and directions to them all.

He flared Adamant Discord and stopped himself, pulling in multiple directions so that he floated about a hundred feet off the ground. It was difficult, holding his Body up like that, but it felt like exercise to the Skillif he had the time, Felix figured he should start carrying boulders into the sky to train up his tolerance for Aspect strain.

In any case, he was relieved that this group seemed well off. Ish. He saw quite a few fighters not listening to Vess' orders, causing problems across their battle lines that led to no less than six Blades becoming overwhelmed. Greater Ratlings pounced, slashing with foreclaws like knives and razor-sharp buck teeth. Felix almost threw himself into the fray, but Vess was fasterher Spears flashed forward, each one taking a Greater Ratling through the chest or open mouth. Their bodies were carried backward by the force, just enough so that when she detonated them the storm of air and metal Mana obliterated them without harming a single Legionnaire.

Shit. She's good. Felix grinned, watching his friend fight. The heiress was impressive as always in her white-enameled half-plate, sleek pauldrons etched with draconic shapes to match her partisan. Her face was bright, despite the frenetic pace of battle, content and excited at the same time. Dang she's beautiful too. GAH. He shook his head. Don't be weird. She's too young.

It didn't matter that he looked the same age thanks to the magic of Tempering. It felt...It didn't matter. He didn't have time for relationships anyway. Felix had a whole damn Territory to figure out, after all. He needed allies...friends, more than anything else.

Things were fine with the Ratling battle. In a flash of blue-white lightning, he moved on.

Felix maneuvered over the oasis like a crackling ghost, peering at battle after battle around his campsite. Monsters abounded, appearing as if from nowhere the moment the sun had risen above the horizon. The squads were fighting on every single front, and it was not all going as well as Vess' team or even the one against the Scorpions. More and more of the squads were failing, taking grevious injuries or simply running out of Mana or Stamina and dropping where they stood. The idiots barely even used the potions he had made for them to account for their usage, and it was only the interference of the Dawnguard that kept those people from being slaughtered. Yet the Dawnguard, though they had greater discipline, were not trained to fight with the Legion, and the Frost Giants...the Henaari and Risi avoided one another wherever possible, it seemed.

It was a mess.

None of them were working together, whether that meant chaining Skills or even thinking tactically. Felix shouldn't have agreed to let the Legion come, not if they were going to kill themselves in their first real combat. Atop the Nagafolk or against the Paladins earlier, they had barely contributed and that was fine. Felix hadn't expected them to, nor that they would have made a difference against those enemies. But the vast majority of these enemies were Tier II with only smattering of Tier III beasts, and the Legion were all in the middle reaches of Apprentice Tier. Each squad should have been more than able to hold their own. Instead, he saw time and again that his friends were pitching in to keep everyone from falling apart. Atar, Alister, Evie, Vess, even Harn and Darius were out among them slinging Skills and spells to keep the hordes from overwhelming the squads completely.

Felix did what he could, slowing down the rush of Lesser Ratlings or trapping the legs of a good number of Vine Wolves with Cardinal Flame and Rime Shaping respectively. It meant the monsters couldn't swarm the squads, trickling forward in groups of ten or twenty instead of fifty. He could have killed them all, probably just drenched the entire jungle with Rain of Cataclysm and burned them out...but not only would that have ruined the place, but it would have meant valuable leveling and training would be lost.

You cannot coddle them forever, Felix, Zara had said to him many months ago. He was realizing she was right.

Still, stone and vines and ice would nudge potions to injured mouths or tripping up charging Greater Ratlings. Red-gold flames would wrap around a beast just long enough for a squad to surround it and cleave its head from its shoulders. Never too much and hopefully subtle enough, but Felix couldn't just stand by. He wouldn't.

Rime Shaping is level 25!

...

Rime Shaping is level 27!

Apprentice Tier!

You Gain:

+5 INT

+5 WIL

+5 DEX

Green Shaping is level 25!

...

Green Shaping is level 26!

Apprentice Tier!

You Gain:

+5 INT

+5 WIL

+5 PER

Obstinacy had the secondary benefit of pressing his lower ranked Skills to their limits, at least.

Pit joined him at some point in his tour of frustration, flapping up from a patch of jungle that had been devastated by ice spears and slashed trees. He chirruped, a high, happy greeting that belied the blood on his beak and claws.

"Having fun?" Felix asked, trying to keep his tone light.

Yes!

Felix snorted, landing among a number giants and Henaari nearest the camp that were anxiously looking at the sky. Pit landed with a dull thud shortly after. A wave of relief swept through the assembled fighters as they spotted him, but he noticed that there were none injured or dead there. He also only spotted four Legionnaires, so that might have explained it. Regardless he ignored them all and looked for the one with a green scarf around their neck. Harn was using them to denote rank, apparently. The one wearing the squad leader neckerchief was...he grimaced.

"What's the situation, Ifre?"

"Birds, my Lord," Ifre said. The captain of the Dawnguard had come along on the expedition at the behest of the Farwalker, but she had avoided him so far. He didn't mind her being there, nor her junior Isyk; she had chosen to defy her orders to kill him, after all. That had to count for something. Ifre likely didn't feel the same comfortshe wouldn't met his eyes. "Very large birds."

"Birds?" he asked.

"Darkmantle Vultures," Battlelord Ari said from the side. He and six other Giants stood with ice-forged weapons gripped in their meaty hands. Ari grimaced up at the cloudless sky, which was almost blindingly bright and made his beard look dingy by comparison. "Two score flock."

"We've seen these before, and they are not kin to the Raven, nor appreciated," Ifre continued. She licked her lips. "But I am told they taste very good."

Ari rumbled in agreement and Pit quirked his head up at the sky. Eagerness and hunger bled across their bond, and Felix smiled fondly at his Companion. It wouldn't hurt to get some fresher meat for their meals.

"They're back," someone said.

The birds came, faster than Felix expected. While they didn't match his own Agility and his Perception easily spotted their movements, the monsters were still remarkably speedy. Half as large as an avum, they had cruel, hooked beaks and iron-grey talons, both of which they attempted to slash and rake at the assembled team. Despite his promises to himself, Felix blatantly stopped two of them from smashing into a Dawnguard, and a third he punched out of the sky, killing it instantly. But then the Vultures were on them, and chaos reigned.

Felix stepped back from any further action, letting Pit join in the fray but otherwise leaving it to his burgeoning army. The sound of level ups and Skill progression trilled across his Affinity, literal music to his ears as his people got better at a visible rate. Stress, challenge, and opportunity, the three critical things necessary to advance in power on the Continent. How much more would they gain if I wasn't here, though? He clucked his tongue, idly dodging a Vulture's slashing strike. Ugh, this leading thing is hard.

He retreated slowly, a casual stroll through the frenzied battlefield of ice, blades, and fluttering feathers. When a stronger than usual Vulture descended, this one colored an odd blue, he still held his hand.

But Pit didn't.

The chimera leaped into the air, immediately challenging the Manadrenched Vulture to aerial combat. Wings and claws flashed and snapped, while beaked mouths screeched and stabbed with abandon. Wingblades and Frost Spear splashed against reinforced feathers and a neck that seemed made of steel, while metallic needles rained down from the Vulture's own wings. Pit dove, placing his armored body in front of the attack rather than risk his allies below. The Master Tier barding, now extending down the outside of his wings, deflected the projectiles like rain on a tin roof.

Kick his ass, Pit! Felix sent.

Pit obliged.

The Vulture grappled with Pit again, raking against the chimera's underbelly with its savage claws. Felix felt Pit's Health drop as bloody furrows were carved into his chest, but he didn't push the Vulture away at all. Instead, the tenku's immense wings wrapped around them both and a keening surge of air Mana billowed in Felix's vision. The Vulture squawked in terror and struggled to escape, but Pit was too strong. There was a pulsea wet, gooey popand the Vulture was no more.

Your Companion Has Killed A Manadrenched Vulture!

XP Earned!

Wingblade is level 73!

Pit screeched his victory into the morning air.

And so the day went. Felix and Pit raced from spot to spot, six in total, each time watching and involving themselves only if a creature too strong to face reared its head. Pit threw himself into the fray again and again, often times facing a surge of territorial monsters all alone. He was still pushing toward his first evolution, whatever that was going to be, and needed to push himself to his limits. Felix was fine with that. Pit wasn't a weak puppy anymore.

Again and again, Felix heard the chorus of countless level gains and Skill progression from among the company. It was encouraging, even as his own Skills languished at the upper end of Adept Tier. But fighting off a jungle's worth of Tier III creatures would barely put a dent in the progress he needed to advance. Felix required stronger foes to challenge himself as well, just as Pit did.

It wasn't to be, unfortunately. The strongest creature to appear had been the Manadrenched Scorpion, with the Vulture as a distant second. That was good for the squads, especially as they all hit the wall far sooner than Felix expected. Stamina and Mana and Health dropped fast, their potions and tinctures mere patches on the greater problem. Squads were rotated out, allowed to rest at the campsite for a few hours before going back out into the dense jungle. They wanted to train Endurance and Stamina use, not drain them completely. There were miles of marching ahead of them, after all.

By early afternoon, the waves of creatures slowed. The Ratlings in particular showed a greater amount of intelligence than Felix was expecting and split into smaller groupings. They attacked from ambush whenever possible, and two Greater Ratlings almost managed to down one of the Frost Giants for good.

The oasis was dangerous during the daylight hours, that much was clear.

Then the long shadows of night began to creep across the jungle. Long before the sky changed to sunset colors, the ridges all around pushed the hidden oasis into twilight, and the monsters fled. One minute the Ratlings and Scorpions and Darkmantle Vultures were attacking, and the next they had scurried or flown off. Just as the Prioress had suggested, nightfall meant that the creatures of the desert simply...went away.

It raised a good number of question, as the same was likely true in the desert itself given that they had seen no monsters or life of any kind out in the sands. While beating back the monster waves, a few squads had found dens beneath groves and against the sandy bluffs, so when the creatures fled the Dawnguard had followed. Their homes were marked off on a map, and a plan was formed. But first, rest.

They were afforded a few hours before true dark settled over the Expanse. Only then, Atar confirmed, was it safe to travel the rest of the way to Ahkestria. Meals were made and bedrolls unfurled, wounds treated and the dead...the dead were burned and mourned. That part was the hardest for Felix, though it wasn't any easier on the others. Pyres were built along the edge of the lake, and the eight fallen warriors were laid on top while the entire company looked on. Felix felt like he should say something, but he didn't know them only their names, memorized in passing before they had even left.

Tetra. Ciami. Nevin . Lesaan. Jiof. Werdan. Mi-ald. Tabanth.

Only the sound of lapping water and crackling flames broke the night. It was somber and blessedly quick. Atar lit the pyres, and his Primordial-touched flames reduced all eight stacks to brilliant pillars of light and smoke...smoke that Darius and Vess worked to disperse before it had a chance to leave the bowl of the oasis.

Eight dead. That number weighed against Felix's Mind as he wandered from the funeral and drifted toward where Pit sat curled around the central campfire. The cold was rising as the shadows deepened, and though weather hadn't bothered him in a long while, Felix was grateful for the light and warmth. Eight dead and nothing I can do about it. More are gonna die. This was just a skirmish with monsters in the woods. What happens if we fight the Paladins for real?

Fight? Pit asked, face stuffed with a bowl-full of roasted meat.

No. Not right now. Felix patted his friend and settled back, feet to the fire. He dismissed his boots and greaves, letting them shrink into a thick band around his ankles, just to enjoy the flames a bit more. I'm just thinking. We've a desert to cross, Paladins to avoid, and a Minotaur to find in the middle of it all.

A lot, Pit sent, face shoved back in his bowl. Dangerous.

Felix chuckled. "It is. Probably for the best that we're headed to Ahkestria first."

"Only if the Paladins haven't torn it down yet," Evie said, carrying a pair of bowls in her hands. "Here. Eat."

Felix took the rough wooden bowl from her hands. It was piled high with roasted meat and some sort of fragrant stew. A hunk of dark, coarse bread was laid across the topspoon and carbs in one. "Thanks. Didn't realize someone made stew."

"Really? The smell's all over the camp." Evie eyed him. "Those deaths really shook you up, huh? I heard Zara and Vess arguin' about you not saying anythin' at the pyres. Ol' Sharptooth was mad. Vess told her to leave you alone."

Felix frowned. "What exactly did she expect me to say? 'Sorry I dragged you into the desert to die' doesn't have the right ring to it."

Evie grunted. She'd been hanging around Harn too much. "They chose this journey. We all did. Just because they died doesn't mean it was a bad choice. Good or bad don't figure, least far as the Sorcerer says, and I'm thinkin' I agree with her."

"I could've prevented them from coming."

"You could've, yeah. But you made a choice too, right?" Evie shrugged. "What're you gonna do about it?"

Felix's frown only deepened. Evie's words caught at him in a way he hadn't expected. His Mind whirled, so lost in thought that he didn't notice when Evie drifted off into the night, or when his food grew cold and congealed. Pit fell asleep at his side, but Felix stared into the fire until it burned down to nothing.

Thinking.

Planning.