Tale of Eldramir

Scattering another wave of razor-sharp leaves, Wolken couldn’t stop mentally berating himself for his mistake. He had genuinely thought that the Mythic Hunter in the Cult would’ve been mixed in with the rest of the Empire’s forces. The fact that Ezekiel had sensed the greatest danger coming from the enemy fleet, not from underwater, had contributed to this assumption.

“Get out of my way!” The enemy Exalt screamed in anger as she tried to make her way toward Ezekiel. However, the battlefield was much more spread out than the last time they had fought. “Why do you continue to fight for the Anathema!? What has he done that has helped you in any way?”

Wolken glared at the screaming Exalt. “Who says I’m protecting him? Can’t I just be interfering with your plans, since you dared to attack my home. Multiple times, at that.”

This made her pause for a moment, as if finally understanding something that she hadn’t figured out before. Wolken took the opening for the chance that it was. Several cracks appeared in her armor as Wolken’s spell cut through it. The actual wounds were shallow, but blood was spilt, nonetheless.

At least for a moment, before her magic healed her wounds. A second later, her Spirit Armor followed suit, and it was as if she hadn’t been wounded.

“I see... So, this is personal... You’re truly an enemy of our Lord. Not simply a misguided man fighting for a cause he does not understand.” She sounded almost sane, if not for the reverent tone when she mentioned her lord. “Such a shame… you’re power would’ve been useful against the Broods.”

Wolken had been suspicious of it before, but now he was certain that the woman he was fighting was truly insane. A shift in the wind that wasn’t caused by him made him tense. Seed pods flew toward him, and he tried to blow them away, but their shape made it difficult.

Instead, they got close to him and exploded. The blast didn’t damage his armor, but it did make him more wary of his opponent.

“It seems that you are truly lost. I shall have to kill you to ensure that you cannot destroy this world by defying our Lord.” Bramble and vines wrapped around the Exalted Cultist’s body.

A multitude of branches formed extra limbs. Each one held a new weapon in their hands. Each one shining with freshly grown, glowing Runes.

Up until this point, the lack of solid ground to use as a base for her plants to grow made things more of an even match. It seemed like things were going to become much more melee based than before.

Along with the weapons, a wooden suit with verdant highlights, filled with Life mana, protected the Cult’s Exalt. At the same time, a gray twisting wind covered Wolken.

Flying toward each other, they clashed in the sky. Shockwaves rolled outward as their weapons made contact. Their blows were deflected one after another, and it was clear that, even though she had just performed a great feat of magic just minutes ago, Wolken’s enemy was not at a disadvantage.

“I’m assuming that you used some sort of Artifact to boost your magic. You probably built up that tree over time and waited until the right moment to force it to grow an exponential amount in a short time.” Wolken spared a moment to glance back at the tree where his fleet had been stranded. “Not bad. But I’m sure there must’ve been some sort of cost.”

The verdant Exalt just laughed. It was a dark, yet gleeful, sound. “Nothing I had to pay for myself.”

Wolken tried to ignore the morbid implication of the Cultist’s words.

“I wonder if you have any more of those... I don’t think you’ll be able to win if you don’t.” He smiled behind his helmet. He could see that his attempt to rile up his opponent was working.

“I don’t need one to defeat the likes of you!”

Her scream was followed by a stream of lashing branches that whipped toward Wolken as he flew backwards to get out of her range.

“Yet you needed it to kill a mere Legendary and failed in the process.” He smirked as the Cultist let out another wordless scream. Reaching into his Void Pouch, Wolken pulled out a set of knives that he had been given by Ezekiel.

They were the same weapons that the Legendary Void Hunter had used in the battle outside of Sanafalls. Only this time, they were tweaked to work in tandem with Wolken’s magic.

“I don’t usually use weapons like this when I’m fighting. But I want to finish this quickly.” The daggers immediately flew off, carried by wind currents under Wolken’s control. Dozens upon dozens of daggers filled the air. Each one was only half the length of his forearm.

A metallic buzzing sound filled the air as the blades began vibrating. They cut through the wooden limbs and weapons of his enemy like there weren't even there.

“If you think this will be enough to defeat me then think again!” Every limb that was cut off was immediately replaced, and it was clear that this battle had shifted once more into a war of attrition.

Given the mana expenditure Wolken was experiencing, he had his doubts regarding who would actually win. If there was a significant mana difference, then he would win every time. But it seemed that the Cult had done something to further enhance his enemy.

“Hurry up and win, already. I need your help if we want to finish this quickly.”

His words weren’t heard by anyone, his magic made sure of it. But he still looked down and to the side to see what Ezekiel was doing.

From what he could tell, there were now floating platforms of ice in the ocean that Ezekiel was using to give himself some support for his footing.

While this had helped him a bit, since his magic meant close range was best for him, his enemy was a Glacier Hunter. She had an immediate and obviously apparent advantage when fighting on the water like this.

Even so, it appeared as though Ezekiel was pressing hard, and was slowly gaining an advantage.

“Die!”

Wolken turned his attention back to his own opponent, who had managed to knock away most of his blades. Several shining green blades swung at him from different directions.

With a dismissive snort, Wolken flexed his magic, and a gust of wind filled the space that he was once residing in. He followed up with a flowy maneuver that let him drift behind the Cultist. Two larger daggers covered in wind filled his hands. They stabbed into the Life Hunter’s back, and blood sprayed into the air.

Another gust of wind, and he was out of the way of the branches that tried to grab hold of him.

“You’re pretty bad at fighting directly, aren’t you?” Internally, he sighed as the wounds he had just inflicted were closed once more. “That’s going to be annoying.”

Summoning up the daggers that had been flung away by his enemy just seconds ago, Wolken readied himself for another clash.

He could just tell that this fight wasn’t going to be going anywhere anytime soon.

----------

Hundreds of meters above the ocean, tangled in the massive branches of the gold leafed tree that had sprung up from below, Riley was cautiously watching over Wendy out of the corner of her eye. At the same time, she barked orders to the rest of the crew and nearby ships to ready their defenses.

“Life Mages! Can you manipulate the branches in any way? If so, move the ships so that our weapons aren’t blocked! We need to ensure that our transportation isn’t destroyed in the battle!” The Mages who heard her got to work, while those that couldn’t help directly passed word on to the other ships. There was a flurry of movement as they tried to ready themselves for the attack to come.

“We’ve certainly lost the opening move this time.” One of the Hunters from Sanafalls muttered as they tried to help the Life Mages move the ships. “I don’t think we’ll be able to get them moved with any speed, Lady Azure Flame! The [Will] Inside this construct is too strong. It’ll take all of us combined to whittle it down. Even then, I don’t suspect we’ll see much progress for at least a few minutes!”

Before she could reply, Riley and the crew were nearly knocked off their feet as a salvo of lightning bolts struck the tree and many of the ships. The defensive formations held, but only barely.

“Brace and reinforce!” She screamed out orders that were followed in an instant, ensuring that the next wave of attacks didn’t shatter the defensive enchantments entirely.

Unfortunately, not all the ships responded as quickly, and a few of the smaller ones suffered burns and cracks in their hulls. The majority of the fleet’s ships returned fire from what weapons and spells could be deployed without further damaging themselves.

“Legends! Prepare to fight! Adepts, keep trying to get control over this damned tree!” Riley ran over to Wendy as she called out her command. “Wendy, I can’t take you into this battle, since you can’t fly. Even if Kare grew to a larger size, that would just make you two targets. Stay here and provide whatever aid you can while fighting off the enemy Adepts and Apprentices that make their way up here.”

Removing a set of rings from her Void Pouch, Riley handed them to the young Obscure Hunter.

“Take these. They’re copies of the defensive Artifacts that your parents once gave your brother. He managed to recreate and improve them. We didn’t give them to you earlier, since we didn’t want to show too much bias in front of the other Hunters. But we can’t afford to do that anymore.”

Wendy took the rings, putting them on her fingers and carefully examining their Runes.

“Stay safe. You can’t get your revenge if you die here. Understood?”

“Yes!” Wendy nodded, and Riley turned to leave. Blue fire spread over her body, and she took to the sky with a ‘crack’ of displaced air.

Moments later, she struck forth at a Lightning Hunter that had flown up to take a shot at her ship. The air seemed to vibrate as she deflected the spell with a wall of fire and a blow that knocked the enemy’s back through the air. A blast of Lightning went wild, and the ship was saved, for now.

Off in the distance, she could see that Ezekiel was holding his own against one of the enemy’s Glacial Hunters. Beyond that, Wolken and the enemy Mythic were fighting an intense melee battle, with neither side seemingly holding the upper hand for long.

“Let’s deal with this quickly. Then we can go help Ezekiel.” Pulling her mana pistol from her Void Pouch, Riley held it and her spear in her hands. Throwing caution to the wind, she began flying toward the Lightning Hunter once more, clashing in midair as their melee weapons collided.

A shot of fire was released from her pistol. It pierced straight through her enemy’s Spirit Armor and burned the flesh shut, causing a hole to remain in the enemy’s side.

“Too low...” Riley scoffed as her opponent moved back with a ‘crack’ of thunder. “Get back here!”

She charged forward, her spear spinning in her hand, deflecting the relatively weaker spells that were being flung her way as she chased after the Lightning Hunter for a few seconds.

However, once she got close enough to another enemy she shifted her attention, suddenly rocketing forward to strike from behind. Her spear glowing white hot for a moment as she enhanced the heat of her Flames even more.

The unfortunate target of this attack was an enemy Tempest Hunter who was locked in battle with an allied Glacial Hunter. The Tempest Hunter barely had time to scream before Riley’s spear sliced through his back. His Spirit Armor parted beneath the heat of Riley’s blade.

The distraction was also enough for the Glacial Hunter to get a hit in as well. An orb of water surrounded the Tempest Hunter’s head and was immediately frozen.

The Tempest Hunter started flailing in a panic as he lost sight and breath. Riley and the Glacial Hunter took advantage of this. Striking out again and again, the Tempest mage became riddled with holes that were either burnt or frozen shut.

The man’s Spirit Armor began to fade after a few seconds. Riley let the body fall from her spear into the ocean below. “Provide assistance for the rest.”

Looking around, Riley sought out a new opponent. Her original prey had flown away, possibly to get medical attention before his intestines fell out.

But before she could make a decision, a beam of light flew toward her, and she was forced to dodge out of the way. Only for a large rock to suddenly block her path. The mirage that had been hiding it shimmered away, and she was forced to release an explosion that pushed her in a different direction.

The Radiant spell beam harmlessly flew past her, but she was now bruised from the impact of both the rock and the explosion.

Two Hunters floated in front of her. Radiant male and Cavern female. Both looked incredibly tired. The short battle so far had taken a toll on them. No less than the one she had paid as well.

“Come! Blue Dragon! Let’s end this today!” The Radiant Hunter seemed to turn into a beam of light, and the next thing Riley knew, the man was right in front of her.

“That’s not my title!” She felt incredibly embarrassed the moment the words left her mouth, but it was the first thing she thought of when she heard her opponent’s words.

She was ignored and was forced to block a blow from the Cavern Hunter, who had managed to get behind her. Her armor wasn’t damaged, even as she felt a strike from the Radiant Hunter get her in the side. But a follow up from the Cavern Hunter got her in the head, and she went tumbling through the air as she tried to regain her bearings.

Another flash of light nearly blinded her, but this time the spell was directed at her opponents.

Taking a second to recover, Riley saw that she was now being supported by a Radiant Hunter from her fleet. But it was obvious that he was having difficulties keeping up.

Letting out a growl, she charged back into the fray. All the while she knew that there was no way she was getting out of this soon enough to help Ezekiel.

----------

For Wendy, seeing her protector and trainer leaving in a burst of blue fire was worrying, especially since the blast wave nearly threw her off her feet, but not so much as when she had been forced into the chaos that was the result of the Kindled Family’s sneak attack on Sanafalls.

That had been sudden, and unexpected, much like this battle, but at least this time around she was prepared for such a thing. She was also clad in the most enchanted armor she had ever seen before. There were numerous Artifacts on her person that would ensure she had several esoteric spells she could use in a pinch, and she had been trained by two of the most powerful Legendary Hunters in the world over the past few months.

There was little more she could do to prepare herself, beyond reaching a higher Step in her Tier. But that wasn’t something she could do right now. Even she could feel the limits of her magic. Her soul just wasn’t ready to make that next Step.

“Die!” A voice called out from beyond the edges of the ship.

She ducked and rolled out of the way of a stream of fire that scorched the deck where she had been standing. ‘Focus, Wendy! We’re fighting for real now!’

Kare’s voice rang through her head, and she knew that she couldn’t allow herself to lose focus.

All around her, the enemy Adepts that could fly were rising up to invade the ships that were stranded in the trees. There numbers weren’t as high as that of the Legendaries in the sky, but it was often easier to attack than to defend. Especially when there were multiple non-moving targets to strike or protect.

A boom in the distance and a flash of lightning that nearly hit the ship just proved how dangerous it was to be a target for the Legends fighting above.

For now, however, Wendy focused on the woman that was standing in front of her. A Flame Hunter with a flying serpent Spirit that floated around her body.

“Lucky.” The woman scoffed as she charged forward.

A flame covered sword slashed down toward Wendy’s neck. She managed to bring her spear up in time to defend. A black shroud of shadows covered it, reinforcing the haft and allowing her to deflect the blow to the side. The ensuing burst of Flame washed over the deck but didn’t cause any significant damage.

“I won’t need luck to kill you.” She exclaimed as she followed up with a swing with her spear.

The black clad weapon was blocked by the Flame Hunter’s Spirit, but Kare took this as a chance to strike at the Hunter directly. Gashes formed in the enemy’s armor as razor-sharp talons with misty shadows flowing like smoke tore through the far less enchanted steel.

“You bitch!” The Flame Hunter turned to strike at Kare, who had dodged backward to avoid the wave of fire that they had expected to come. “Graah! How do you keep dodging!”

“You’re too predictable!” Wendy’s cry fell on deaf ears as the Hunter focused on Kare.

The flying serpent wreathed in flames circled around Wendy. But the Obscure Hunter wasn’t going to let herself get distracted. She needed to finish this so she could help the others on the ship.

“Can you even attack if your partner isn’t there to help you?” She tried to taunt the Spirit, but it didn’t work. All she got was an angry hiss, but the Spirit didn’t charge. Not yet.

‘Behind you!’ Kare’s voice called through their bond, but rather than dodge away, likely into whatever the Spirit in front of her had prepared, she activated the Radiant Shield ring that Riley had given her.

A golden shield sprung up, blocking an arrow of fire that had flown at her from the enemy Hunter, who Kare was now tearing into. The woman’s sword had been knocked away, and she was practically defenseless against the Obscure Spirit’s onslaught.

Even the Spirit was surprised for a moment, and Wendy took the opportunity presented to her.

Shadows that had slowly crept out from her own wrapped around the Spirit’s shadow, causing it to freeze in place for a moment. Charging forward with her spear raised high, Wendy took advantage of the sudden shock and confusion her spell had caused.

Letting her barrier take another wave of fire, she ignored the flying serpent’s desperate attack and stabbed forward with her spear. The Spirit managed to break her hold at the last minute, and avoided a lethal blow, but was still struck through the wing.

Shifting her aim, Wendy turned her spear toward the deck. It pierced into the deck and stayed there. Several hooks made of shadows then appeared, each one aimed at keeping the wing of the serpent pinned down.

“How dare you!” The Flame Hunter cried out. She ignored Kare’s latest attack and charged Wendy. Bloodied and bruised, the woman was covered in cuts that leaked a shadowy mist.

Wendy didn’t stay still, and jumped away from the woman, but threw a dagger covered in black mist that she had pulled from her Void Pouch. It struck the Flame Hunter in the shoulder but didn’t otherwise stop her from reaching her pinned Spirit.

By now, Wendy had used up a fair bit of her mana with the spells she cast so far. So, she didn’t charge in recklessly, and instead took a look at the rest of the deck, even as Kare landed on her shoulder.

Most of the battles had been evenly matched so far, and it looked like all the Adepts that were headed for their ship were already here. If they could just take down one or two enemies, they’d be able to turn the tide much more quickly.

‘Focus!’ Kare chided as Wendy turned back to her opponent. The Flame Hunter had removed the spear and had thrown it to the side. Wendy grabbed it with her shadows before it could fly off the ship.

‘We need to finish this.’ Wendy tried to figure out how to beat her opponent without using up too much mana. Then she noticed that her enemy hadn’t removed the dagger that she had thrown into her shoulder. ‘Can you grab that dagger?’

‘Not with my talons. But I’m guessing we won’t need to.’ Kare instantly knew where Wendy was going with her plan.

‘Then let’s do it!’ Wendy dashed forward, low and close to the ground, she moved to circle around her enemy.

The Flame Hunter let out a burst of fire in all directions once Wendy got close enough. Wendy expected the woman thought she would be using her barrier ring again. But this time, she took the blow with just her armor, partially covering her face to protect against the heat on her skin.

The widespread flames were much weaker than the more focused waves and the arrow that had been used before now. So, she managed to get away with this maneuver unharmed.

She then went straight for the injured Spirit, ignoring the Hunter entirely.

“Don’t you dare ignore me!” The Flame user screamed but couldn’t do much else.

Kare had extended her shadow to wrap around the dagger in her enemy’s shoulder. The enchanted weapon acted like a beacon that she could directly hold onto. Rather than pull it out, however, the Obscure Spirit just shook it around, causing pain and damage to build up and cause the Hunter to fall to the ground screaming.

Fire flew everywhere, and prevented Kare from getting close since there were no longer any openings. But that was fine. Her shadow could go where she could not.

For Wendy, she ignored the screams and took out another dagger. This time charging it with far more mana than before, to the point where you couldn’t even tell that it was metal anymore. Throwing it with all her might, it went flying straight for the serpent Spirit’s head. It moved to dodge but saw Wendy’s spear coming at it from the side.

Seemingly sensing far more danger from the dagger than the spear, Wendy saw the Spirit move to take the blow from her spear and dodged out of the way of the dagger. Its fangs also glowed with red light. Likely to attack her once it got close enough.

Only for the dagger to move in the air, turning to the side, and stabbing the Spirit in the eye. A thin thread of shadow connected the dagger to Wendy.

Reeling in sudden pain as it found several inches of shadowed steel in its eye, the Spirit failed to dodge as Wendy stuck her spear through its body.

It let out a strangled gasp as the fires that lined its body fizzled out. The glowing red in its mouth also disappeared. A moment later, there was a dull ‘thump’ as it fell to the deck. Motes of red light floated into the air as it died.

“Noooo!” The Spirit’s Hunter screamed in pain and rage. She ran toward Wendy, despite the pain of the dagger rattling inside her shoulder.

Her movements were so staggered that Wendy barely had to dodge.

As one, she and Kare moved forward, dodging the weak attempt from the Hunter to set her on fire. Wendy took a glancing blow to get close, before shoving her spear through one of the gashes in the woman’s armor.

She jolted to a stop, and Kare took the opportunity to sever her neck.

With a spray of blood, the woman fell to the deck beside her fading Spirit.

Wendy took a moment to catch her breath. Looking at the corpse at her feet, she felt sick to her stomach. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen a corpse, but it had been the first time she had made one.

‘I’m fine... I’ll be fine. Let’s go help the others.’ She cut off her Spirit’s concerned words before they could be said. The emotions from her Spirit flowed through their bond with ease.

Straightening up, Wendy steeled herself before picking a new target. Running forward, the shadows followed as she entered into yet another fight.