B4 Chapter 489: Plight of the Living, Finale

A teeming black cloud surged across the sky, racing towards the Pegleg. Kaius could have almost mistaken the flowing blob as a flock of starlings — if not for the fact that he could pick out the individual beasts. Birds, bats, and insects alike, they moved with focused fury.

The flock was a mere fraction of the tyrant’s aerial forces. Their numbers had still swelled to hundreds of beasts.

More than enough to stop Ophelia from retrieving the last group of survivors. Kaius scowled, his mind racing as he searched for some solution. They were so close. Mere minutes, and they would have been able to store their landyacht and run back to Deadacre. With their stat advantage, there was no way their pursuers would have been able to catch them.

That plan was dead in the water. Without the storm mage, they were locked to the Pegleg.

Would they even be able to make it? Ianmus and Kenva would be directly exposed to the flying beasts, forcing him to defend them from above with full focus — and taking his backline’s attention away from defending their vessel’s legs.

No, he couldn’t be defeatist. They would hold on. This close to Deadacre, they only had to hold out for long enough to get in range of the defenders on the walls. The dragon’s teeth that the Mystral earth mages had raised would break the advance of the beasts. In comparison, the Pegleg would be barely slowed — its spider legs were almost perfect for racing over the fortifications.

The flying beasts though…

Kaius eyed the black cloud, already growing larger as the beasts closed the distance. Defiant heat raced through his blood — he still had Starfall.

The thought buoyed him as he cleaved through the neck of a bright red fox. Blood splashed onto the deck, steaming with unnatural heat.

The war magic would buy them time. It might not be large enough to cover the entire field of battle, and no doubt much of the fliers would survive, but it would scatter them — and break the horde that surged beneath them.

“Kaius, we’ve got a problem!” Porkchop called out.

The warning ripped his attention to the massing forces beneath their vessel. Shock raced through his spine — they were different.

The beasts still followed them with dogged fury, but the mindlessness was gone. No longer did they claw at each other in a single minded focus to reach the Pegleg. They were organised.

Kaius watched as three unified groups formed — regimented like a battalion of professional soldiers.

The largest, central group charged forward, right into Porkchop’s waiting arms. Through their bond, Kaius saw the beasts flow around him — latching onto anything they could. More of their number threw themselves suicidally at Porkchop, forcing him to deal with them with his full attention.

They did little to wound his brother, but the simple weight of so many bodies all but locked Porkchop in position.

A Shardwall ripped out of the ground. The beasts split, leaping to the side to attack Porkchop from another angle.

Kaius’s attention snapped to the other groups — peeling away to the sides.

They surged in a heartbeat later. Racing right for their landyacht’s legs.

His eyes widened in realisation. With Porkchop pinned, he couldn’t react to the three pronged attack.

How? Where was the unthinking fury? Had the Tyrant taken direct control?

He didn’t have time to think on it any longer — each flanking group dived for the back legs of the landyacht.

“Take left!” Kaius called to his back line, diving for the right hand side of the deck. Hearing the crack of arrows and spells behind him, he reached for his own magic.

At the head of the group, Kaius watched a wolf swell with power — muscles growing until it’s skin was so distended it looked like its skin might rip. It lunged.

Kaius fired a Nail. Steel ripped through the beast’s skull.

**Ding! You have slain Shadehound – Level 102 Darkfang Pursuer! Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying a foe of significantly lower level!**

The beast’s carcass slammed into the steel leg of their landyacht. Many more followed. Heavy oxen-like creatures with armor plating. Long-legged herbivores with skulls of bone. Powerful lizards with crushing tails.

Kaius unleashed on the beasts, lightning and thunder crackling in the clear sky. He spent everything he had. If the beasts managed to destroy their vessel’s legs; if they were grounded, there was no way they could keep the remaining villagers alive.

There were so damned many of them. He crushed their advance alone, yet the damage was done. Deep cracks and rents spread through the lower half of the leg he had been defending. With every step, its lowest joint seized, jerking. Great gouts of sparks erupted from the damage every time the limb was forced to bear the peg-leg’s weight.

The beast pulled back, and Kaius eyed the regrouping mass with incensed frustration, his jaw-clenched tight.

Another assault like that, and the damaged legs were sure to fail. Just defending from that one push had drained a fifth of his remaining Stormlashes. They needed a plan — one that would let them break the charge and buy some time.

As soon as the aerial beasts arrived, there was no way they could defend another attack like that.

“Ideas?!” he called.

“I’ve got one!” Ianmus replied back — unleashing beams of solar magic from his keyseal as he devoted his attention to weaving a new spell with sorcery. “I can blind them. Kenva, can you hit the front lines with Ensnaring Seedburst when I do? It’ll kill their momentum.”

“Easy! Just give me warning when you’re ready!” Kenva replied, never halting from her constant barrage.

Kaius readied himself. If his backline could blind and snare the beasts, it would be the perfect moment to use Starfall.

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Defending his friends, he watched the mana Ianmus worked go brighter and denser. The weaves were tight, but simplistic — more raw power, than a complicated shaping. A hundred levels ago, that amount of mana would have taken Ianmus ten minutes or more to channel — now it came together in less than one.

It was still enough time for the approaching flock of aerial beasts to reach them.

Kaius’s stomach knotted as the teaming cloud poured down. The beasts screamed in rage, everything from wasps as large as his thigh, to owls that left trails of mist in their wake.

He flicked a glance towards Ianmus; the mage was still channeling.

Blast it all, if he waited any longer the fliers would be on them. Ianmus might lose his concentration entirely. Better to use Starfall early than risk their plan.

He reached for his spell.

“Now, Kenva!” Ianmus cried.

Five shots snapped off in quick succession, each one imbued with the ranger’s mana and stamina. Vines sprouted across the front line of chasing beasts, curling over everything they could reach. Thorns wormed their way into flesh, digging around scales and finding softspots that let them drink deep.

Ianmus thrust his hand forward.

Light consumed all.

Even with Truesight, Kaius was forced to squint. Blinded utterly, the charging beasts slammed into their vanguard that had been pinned by Kenva’s skill. Bones snapped; their lines collapsed.

Kaius snapped up — the diving fliers were screeching, scattered and stunned by the sudden blast.