B4 Chapter 520: Tyrannomachia, pt. 6

The worst thing about fighting the Tyrant was how frustrating it was. It was like fighting the wind, if said wind somehow had a knife hidden behind its back and a penchant for stabbing.

Planning around its capabilities was nightmarish. It wasn’t just its speed, though it had plenty of that. If all he’d had to manage was the fact that it could out pace any one of them, a few feints, a little positioning, and a well timed trap would have worked fine.

The problem was that on top of being fast, it hit like an ogre, was as tough as an ox, clothed itself in what may as well have been dragon fire, and had four damned arms!

It was skilled too, a pugilist that used its unnatural physique and gangly limbs to the full extent of their reach.

They pressed, it gave ground. While it wasn’t able to escape unscathed, they had landed nothing decisive in the entirety of their battle. Simple flesh wounds: a cratered chest, or bone deep cuts. The kind of thing it incessantly recovered from. They paid for every wound. Every time he dared to draw close enough to attempt to run it through with his blade, a burning hand would be there — hammering his ribs, or simply summoning a gout of flame to boil his flesh.

Not even Rieker and Arc had been able to completely tip the scales.

Kaius warily circled the Tyrant, Porkchop rotating the opposite direction. It kept backing up, refusing to allow one of them behind it.

Rieker was only just starting to rally, and Arc was struggling. Even with his wounds closing under Ianmus’s healing magic, the Tyrant’s essence rampaged within him. The solar magic helped, but it was slow — far slower than it should have been.

Kaius longed to use Fractured Warp; to tear his way through space itself to bury his blade in the back of his enemies twisted head.

Unfortunately, he had no confidence in ending the fight in a single blow, even with a total advantage in positioning and surprise. It was too swift, and he’d already seen the creature react to unseen blows. Far better to save the spell for when they had forced the creature to overcommit.

The fact remained it was more slippery than an oiled and shaved cat.

He had other options. Swift and agile as it was, it couldn’t avoid everything. The rapidly healing wounds that littered its chest from Rieker and Arc’s assault proved that. If they could force it to move, and hit it with an attack it couldn’t avoid, there was a chance they could maim it.

Even as tough, skilled, and strong as it was, without its ability to avoid so many of their attacks it would fall quickly. Starfall could make that happen, especially with VOS.

It wouldn’t be easy. The spell covered a wide area, but it took time for the meteors to fall. If given the opportunity, the Tyrant was fast enough to escape the worst of it. More annoyingly, the size of Starfall meant they’d need to force their target far enough away from them that he wouldn’t capture themselves in the blast zone.

The Tyrant raced in before he could come to a solution, charging right at him. A shock of cold raced down his spine, jolting him into motion. Two chained Stormlashes ripped through the air, forcing it to dodge.

Then a burning fist was racing towards his head.

Kaius kicked back, narrowly avoiding the blow as an arrow slammed into the ground by the Tyrant’s feet. Vines sprouted, yanking the creature back before it could burn them to cinders. It freed itself in moments. Porkchop blurred, Intercede the Weak granting him the speed to lunge in front of the Tyrant. A heavy fist landed on his pauldrons for his efforts.

Three more cracking blows landed on Porkchop in an eyeblink, each one joined by a flare of red fire.

Porkchop roared, The Dominance of Claw washing over the Tyrant in an attempt to force it to face him and him alone.

It lunged in, hissing in fury.

Fully focused on Porkchop, Kaius had an angle — he had to take the shot. Firing a Nail, he lunged into a low stab. His spell was knocked away by a slapping palm, and he only just managed to cut into the meat of its thigh before it dipped away.

Strange, from what he’d seen of the creature, it should have pulled back far sooner. Had they cracked its composure? Perhaps they could use that.

Kaius reached through his bond, hurriedly impressing his half-formed plan to Porkchop.

“Maybe, it could work,” Porkchop said, before he paused for a moment. “We’d need to get it airborne somehow — less chances for it to maneuver.”

It was a good point, though he struggled to see how they could manage that. Although, it had done so before, when it had been the only way to avoid one of Kenva’s empowered arrows. If they could force it to retreat, send it skyward, and then hit it with every mental effect they had…

It might be enough.

“Can Ianmus help us distract it with his new spells? Or Rieker and Arc — I know Rieker mentioned he has a stunning effect.”

He felt Porkchop reach out to the others silently — though his full focus never left the battle in front of him.

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They rebuffed the Tyrant again — though this time Rieker joined them. The guildmaster had recovered from the essence-laced blow he’d suffered earlier, though Kaius could see he was slower than before. Whatever effect the Tyrant’s essence had, it lingered longer than wounds. Regardless, with Rieker’s help, it was far more managable holding the Tyrant off.

They fought in silence as much as they could. Their foe was a thinking one — anything they verbalised could be used against them, though they didn’t always have the time to relay plans through Porkchop’s silent telepathy.

“Ianmus says he’s got enough mana in his Witching Hour keyseal for one Sermon of Iniq. He’s not sure how long it will madden the creature for, though,” Porkchop growled as he lunged forward. The move forced the Tyrant to halt its strike at Rieker.