Our dance went over and over—dodge, dodge, parry, and counter. Slip was indeed quick, but I still held far more Agility than any ordinary warrior. That and my decades of training were the only things keeping me alive.
If Slip had any abilities he could use in direct combat, I’d have died within the first minute. Good thing stealth skills are useless in a straight-up fight. I kept my footwork light and mobile, not risking standing still for a second. The grass beneath our feet tore free from the ground as we trampled it over and over. Keeping Slip at bay meant I couldn’t go on the offensive. We’d been dancing for only a minute now, and unless something changed, I was going to lose. Slip was too fast.
I need to act now if I have any chance of surviving.
I stopped moving, giving Slip an opening to attack me, and he did not disappoint. As soon as Slip thrust with his twin daggers, I moved into his space, putting myself off balance and doing pretty much everything Evelyn taught me not to when in close combat if you wanted to stay alive. Here we go!
It was a suicidal tactic; either I would get lucky, or Slip’s knives would skewer me. His blades sailed towards my chest, I took one in the shoulder, and another stuck into my ribs. Damn, that stings! Hopefully, he didn’t nick anything vital. I’d find out if my health bar plummeted.
Thankfully it hit low yellow and went no further. A large pool of blood formed at my feet, but I ignored the pain and brought my knee into his solar plexus, crushing the air from his lungs.
Slip doubled over, but remained standing, coughing a large amount of blood onto the grass. Bloody drool dripped from his mouth as he stood. Must have caused some organ damage, maybe broke a couple of lower ribs. I charged him before he could regain his composure, but pain from behind me brought me to my knees.
Without looking, I swept my leg out and caught my assailant on the shin, sending him tumbling to the ground. Wolf crashed into my vision, grinning a sick smile. Even though my kick should have fractured his leg, he rose with ease. Warmth poured down my back as I got to my feet. What the hell did he hit me with?
I received an answer a second later, as Wolf’s hands were encased in ice. Each finger formed a long, deadly claw. Frost Talon? So, Wolf is an ice mage, but why use that spell? Fog rose off them and hissed as my blood ran down his fingers, staining them a sticky red. Most ice mages hated it since close combat wasn’t their specialty. Whatever the reason, Wolf had turned a useless spell into a deadly style of fighting.
His eyes held a perverse glee at the sight. He grinned and let his true self out to play, bringing his hand up to lick my blood.
“The fuck are you doing?”
Wolf laughed, a sick, twisted laugh that revolted me. “Your blood tastes foul, human. Sickening,” he spat, trying to remove the taste.
My back ached, throbbing with every pulse of blood that spilled from my open wounds, slipping down to coat my hand a warm red. I stood, and ice cracked sharply, letting more blood flow down my back. Wolf was on me as soon as I was able to stand, raking at me with his claws. I moved but was hurt; the loss of blood and the pain made me slow.
I blocked his next strike with my forearm, only to have Wolf claw it open. Four long gashes ripped apart my flesh, they were deep and should have been spurting blood, but they weren’t. Ice formed inside the wounds, spreading out and covering my skin.
Frostbite! Shit! Of course, he’d have that passive ability. Need to end this quick, longer we fight, the more it’ll spread. I ignored the rapidly growing shards of ice on my arm and turned my attention to Eris.
She was fighting a weakened Slip, who was still proving himself a challenge. Eris was on him enough that he couldn’t go for a weapon, but her attacks were sloppy, and even coughing blood, Slip kept her at bay, but he was racked with a fit of coughs and only halfway blocked a punch from Eris. It slipped off his forearm and connected with his temple. His skull cracked and buckled from the impact, and Slip dropped to the ground like a stone, unconscious.
By the nine kings of Hell, she’s strong. Eris stood over him, the victor of the fight, but Slip was still a threat and needed to die.
“Eris, kill him.”
“Bu—”
“Do it!”
I had to focus on Wolf. He wasn’t giving me an inch, moving around me like a ghost, trailing ethereal fog in his wake, slicing my body to pieces. It didn’t matter that none of the hits were deep or if they hit a vital area. The frost damage was working its way over my body. Even now, my arm was turning black, and I couldn't feel my fingers.
If he hits my right arm, I won’t be able to hold my sword, and that’ll be the end of me. I was growing weaker by the second. The blood loss and frostbite sapped my remaining strength.
Shit, shit, shit. I have to get rid of his magic, but what will happen if I use Aura of the Antimage? I have magic inside my heart now, can I survive it?
My choice was taken from me as Wolf ducked under my weak swing and plunged his claws into my chest, and I couldn’t hold back my screams.
I didn’t have another option left; I activated Aura of the Antimage, and it pulsed along my skin, billowing out in a circle, shredding any magic within it. My heart stopped as the magic inside it dissolved, and I dropped to the ground in blinding agony, but I was still alive.
Antimagic was powerful, but even it couldn’t rid me of my Darkness. It was very weak, but it still clung to me. I gasped as I figured out how to breathe again, clutching at my now-beating heart, trying to find the strength to stand.
Wolf stumbled back as his magic shattered, sending shards of ice cascading to the grass, melting in the midday sun. The effects of Frostbite faded along with his claws, and blood began to pour from a dozen lacerations in my skin. I uncorked a health potion and drank it down while Wolf recovered from having his magic destroyed.
My health bar climbed into the green, but my battle fatigue was already too high, and I only had a few minutes of fighting left in me. Movement from behind me caused me to turn. Eris came to stand beside me, her hand brushing my own. Slip’s lifeless corpse lay a few yards away on the grass, his head snapped and nearly twisted around his body.
“Good job,” I told her, pride in my voice.
She jerked her head in a curt nod, not looking at me, staring at Wolf. “The russet-haired one got away, though. He fled when I killed that man.”
Darren? Shit, where’d he go? I spied a couple of horses in the tree line. There were only five, and one was missing. Damn it, I didn’t want him escaping.
Wolf was looking at me with surprise, and his sadistic grin only deepened. He opened his mouth wide to showcase his teeth, each of them pointed and sharp.
“Well, well. I expected Darren to flee. He’s always been a coward, but that spell wasn’t nullification magic, that was antimagic. I didn’t think it actually existed. Tell me, human. Who taught you that?”
“Fuck you!" Like hell will I tell you shit. Besides, Evelyn would kill me if I ever gave her name to a stranger. Especially an enemy.
Wolf laughed at me. “Fair enough, human, fair enough.”
Why does he keep calling me that? Never mind, Aura is going to time out in a few seconds, which means it’ll take around half a minute for his mana to refill enough to use Frost Talon again if memory serves. Need to make that time count. I looked at Eris. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m fine. My magic is low, but I can still fight.”
“All right, back me up. He’s incredibly dangerous, and you can’t take him by yourself.”
Wolf only laughed harder at my words, nearly doubling over from it. “Yes, both of you come to me, let me savor your flesh and marrow.”
His laugh deepened, turning to a low growl as he bent over as if in pain. It wasn’t until his bones began to crack that I realized the situation, and how utterly screwed we were.
“Eris, run.”
The tone of my voice caused her to look at me with fear in her eyes. She tugged on my arm, “What's going on? There's two of u—”
His fist rocketed into my gut, sending me flying, I hit the ground a few feet away and rolled over and up onto my feet. Ignoring the massive amount of pain I was in, I prepared to rush him again, but it was too late.
He’d completely transformed.
Wolf, the man, was gone. In his place stood a massive barrel-chested werewolf. Easily eight feet of rippling muscles, with thick, wiry white fur covering his body. He stood on two legs, shaking off the remains of his armor and roared. Jagged yellowed teeth jutted out from his maw, and Wolf looked at me with hunger in his sickly green eyes.
“Yes, run, run as fast as you can. It makes the meat so much sweeter when it's filled with fear.” He spoke with a harsh, guttural tongue.
My heart pounded too loud in my ears, and my skin went cold. It took all I had to muster the courage to move. Wolf lowered onto all fours and was on me before I could take a single step, charging into me and knocking me to the ground. Wolf placed one of his gigantic paws on my chest, pinning me in place. He was salivating, long strands of drool fell from his mouth as his fetid breath rolled over me.
My sword fell from my hands in the charge and lay mere inches away on the grass, just out of my reach. Wolf was savoring my fear, prolonging the kill. His vicious claws dug into me, tearing through my armor with ease and going through my skin and Exoskeleton like it was nothing.
I screamed, for I could do nothing else. I gave him what he wanted in spades, screaming till my voice tore and devolved into a ragged croak. All the while pushing away as much of the pain as I could, inching my way towards my hunting knife.
So focused on his own hunger, Wolf was oblivious as he lowered his teeth to my neck. Nicking my flesh and drawing blood, he lapped his sandpaper tongue over my neck. “Still foul, but blood is blood, and I will gorge myself on it before snapping your bones and drinking your marrow.”
“Eat this, you furry bastard!”
I pulled my knife free and jammed it to the hilt in Wolf’s eye. He howled in agony and rage, jumping off me and trying to shake the knife free from its lodging. Blood and vitreous fluid ran down his face and into his mouth as he kept screaming. I got up from the ground and made it two steps before my battle fatigue maxed out, and my entire body seized up.
Shit! Not now, not now! I yelled in rage, but I couldn’t move my body anymore. I was helpless as Wolf rose on two legs and pulled the knife free from his face, it thudded into the dirt as he dropped it and stalked over to me, his face twisted in pain.
“I was going to make your death quick, but now you will suffer,” Wolf stepped onto my leg and ever so slowly applied pressure until my leg snapped like a twig.
My screams turned to whimpers as shock set in. While under the effects of battle fatigue, I could do nothing but scream as he took his time breaking my bones. My health redlined, and with the blood steadily leaking from me, I wouldn’t last much longer.
Wolf shot up as a blur rushed past, slamming into him and knocking him off me. It was Eris, but as I’d never seen her before. Covered head to toe in jagged black chitin, she attacked Wolf with savage fury.
Eris’s eyes glowed with ethereal green light, and smoke trailed from her hands, as she hit Wolf over and over again in an unhinged frenzy, screaming at him. “Don’t you touch him!”
Her strength was incredible, but even it couldn’t overpower a werewolf. Wolf’s fist caught her across the jaw and sent her to the dirt. She scrambled to her feet in a second and managed to get her hands up to block a second swing. Her chitin armor held under the blow, but even in wolf form, he was still an excellent fighter, and Eris couldn’t measure up.
He grabbed her by the forearm and flung her to the ground. His sharp claws raked at her chest and face, only to glance off the chitin. They couldn’t get through her carapace armor. Wolf roared in frustration and backed off Eris.
With a few growled words in Script, Wolf cast Frost Talon once more.
I stared, unable to do anything until my battle fatigue lowered, but I was seething. A werewolf mage? How unfair is that? Wolf slashed with his frost-coated talons. His previous speed was hampered by his massive size, and his white fur matted with blood and sweat as he continued his onslaught. Eris backed away and dodged what she could, her chitin armor granting her much better speed than before, but wolf managed to land several hits.
Slowly, her chitin chipped and cracked, with each landed hit, ice formed, and if it broke open, the ice would eat away at her flesh. Eris stopped retreating and ducked under Wolf's next attack, getting into his space and digging into his chest with her pointed claws. Wolf tried to pry her loose, but she held firm until he pulled her free with howls of pain, along with huge bloody chunks of flesh and fur stuck in her hands.
She clambered up to his back as he cried in pain and perched on his shoulders. Eris thrust toward his face and dug her pointed claws into Wolf’s face, taking his eye with a fountain of blood.
Blind and in utter misery, Wolf reached above and tossed Eris off him. She landed on her back, hard, tearing up dirt and grass as she rolled. She stood and ran at the blind wolf, confident of her success now that he was sightless, but she was overconfident.
Eris attacked at Wolf's back, but faster than she could react, Wolf countered, kicking her in the chest and crumbling even more of her armor.
“Stupid bitch, you reek of the deep woods, and even if I can’t see, I can still smell you. You can’t escape me, and I will grind your bones to dust for taking my eye, you and the human.”
She stood firm. “I won't let you lay another finger on him!” she shouted, her voice echoing with her truth.
Wolf sniffed the air, the breeze bringing the smell of Eris to him, he pinpointed her location and smiled. “Then die and nourish me with your blood!”
I blinked, and Wolf was gone, on Eris in seconds, rending her armor asunder with his frosted claws. His swipe took her across the face, shredding her chitin and slicing a deep groove across her cheek. Blood poured down the right side of her head but trickled to a stop as Frostbite took hold. Godsdamn it! She’s going to lose! Fucking get up and do something, or Eris is going to die!
“Now, do you desire my power?”
Yes, shit, just let me help her!
“Very well.”
Warning! Forceful Activation of Hive Guard.
Black ooze pooled out of my skin to cover me, and a pleasant warmth spread from within my chest. As the chitin faded back under my skin. I was whole and unblemished. My battle fatigue was at zero, and even my cooldowns had been lowered.
Eris continued her losing fight, not giving Wolf any ground, but she was fighting the clock, and each passing second pushed her closer to death. The fight had been going on only for a handful of minutes, but it felt like hours. Eris, in a desperate attempt, used the last of her fleeting magic and summoned a horde of red wasps.
They swarmed by the thousands to the Hive Queen, drifting above her head like a crimson cloud, waiting for orders.
“Kill him.”
They obeyed, their buzzing intensified, forming into a droning battle cry as they attacked, twisting and turning like a corkscrew in midair, sailing towards Wolf. Who was blind to the oncoming horror, but the buzz was unmistakable, and Wolf brought his frozen hands up in an attempt to fend them off.
He swatted to and fro, freezing the very air as his hands passed through dozens of the creatures, killing them instantly, slaughtering scores of them at a time, but it was useless; they froze on his talons, sticking to them. Each time one died, another ten took its place.
Hundreds of the wasps made it past his swipes and crawled over his arms, stinging him, but they were doing minimal damage—his fur was too thick.
Eris was
doing everything she could to remain standing, but Frostbite and her depleting mana were sapping what little strength remained. Soon as Wolf dies, so too does his magic. I have to end this. Eris and her insects had helped, but precious few remained, a hundred at most, and each passing second Wolf killed more and more of them.
I picked up my sword from the ground and waited for an opening. Poison Blade activated as I closed my hand over my weapon, slithering out to drench my steel.
I called out to Eris, “Go for the face!”
She nodded and raised a trembling hand, pouring what remained of her magic out in a final command. “Attack his head!”
The wasps followed her order, and all swarmed to Wolf's face, covering it entirely.
They crawled over his ruined eyes and into his nose and mouth, Wolf roared in rage, his maw snapped shut and he swallowed a dozen or more, but more just kept coming. Each time he tried to breathe, more wasps entered his mouth and stung him repeatedly, clogging his throat with their lifeless bodies. His entire focus was on the swarm, giving me my opening.
I ran, my sword raised as I charged the werewolf. I flew across the ground as fast as I could, but Wolf still heard me coming, some small part of his brain rational enough to turn towards the sound. He looked dead at me, baring his throat to me in the process. He swiped, but his hands were heavy with frozen wasps, and his swipes were easy to avoid.
My sword connected with his neck, and I put my entire strength behind the blade. Resistance met me, and for half a millisecond, I feared it wouldn't go through, but his thick sinew gave way under my sword. Slicing through his neck and drenching me in blood. I’d given him an opening, and he punched through my chest with an errant swing from his claws, puncturing a few organs, and knocked my blade from my hands, sending me to the dirt.
Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) Page 27
