“What the fuck is a spinedrake?” Mahrai asked.
“Mini-dragon, lots of spikes,” I guessed. “Does that sound right?”
Vesma stared at me. “Wipe that grin off your face. Those beasts are some of the most vicious that have ever haunted this valley.”
I hefted my warhammer over my shoulder, and my smile widened. “I want whatever technique they can give us.”
“Master, are you really sure I’m able to do this?” Choshi asked.
“I know you can. It’s just like before with Yo Hin. Follow my lead,” I replied.
I scanned the skies. One of the flapping shadows twisted in the air. Thorned scales glistened like black oil in the moonlight. Long, wide wings tucked in against the monster’s body before it dive-bombed straight toward Mahrai. I shoved her out of the way at the last second, and a glittering maw of teeth snapped at the air a few inches away from her head. The others scattered outward as Mahrai and I tumbled over the slate. We rolled over until she was lying on my chest. Her hair tickled my cheek as she stared down at me in shock.
“How did you see that coming?” she demanded in a whisper.
“Gut instinct,” I told her. “Get back up there. We need all our heavy hitters on the field.”
“I’m on it!” Mahrai said.
I twisted my legs, propelled her to her feet, and rolled to my own feet again. The spinedrake’s wings buffeted the air as it gained altitude. The creature didn’t shriek in disappointment or turn in for another attack. It simply took to the sky with silent patience that made my skin crawl.
Mahrai rammed her staff into the ground and released her Vigor. The stony floor of the plateau rippled, and the gravel stitched itself together in the familiar skeleton of her Greater Stone Golem.
“We’re vulnerable,” Kumi called. “We can’t stay here, Ethan!”
“We’ve defeated cultists and demons,” I said. “A few little dragons shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, new cores mean new techniques.”
I wasn’t dooming everyone for my own greed. This wasn’t a fight we would lose. Kumi’s overreaction was understandable though. After all, she hadn’t faced fire monsters before.
“Split into groups of two,” I said to everyone. “Kumi, you’re with Kegohr. Vesma and Faryn, see if you can draw another one of them away. I’ll stay with Mahrai and her golem. We need to force these assholes to land.”
Stone grated against stone as Mahrai’s golem finished piecing itself together. I swung the Demure Rebirth in small circles, waiting for the next opportunity to strike.
The spinedrakes glided in lazy rings above us, but they had made a key mistake, and they didn’t even know it yet. Mahrai’s golem was our heaviest hitter, and I was confident that she could use it to bring one of them down to our level. We had a trap, and the rewards for our labors would be beast cores.
But any good trap needed decent bait.
And that bait was me.
Chapter Eight
A spectacular light show would draw the spindedrakes’ attention to me and allow Mahrai’s golem to snatch one from the air. I explained the plan to Mahrai as I took up a position on the center of the plateau, drew the Sundered Heart from my hip, and channeled Vigor into the blade. Flames burst from the edges of the bright steel. I held the sword over my head and spun it around in my hand before I fired off an Untamed Torch into the sky.
“Come and get us, you horror-show rejects!” I shouted. “We’re right down here! Delicious, nutritious, and fucking armed to the teeth!”
“How eloquent,” Nydarth observed. “And perhaps not the wisest course of action, Master.”
My technique lit up the night for a moment. One of the spinedrakes swept away from my gout of flame, tucked its wings against its body, and came for me like a heat-seeking missile.
“Now, Mahrai!” I shouted.
The ground shook under the golem’s steps as it lunged to my side and caught the spinedrake in mid-air. I leapt back, sheathed my sword, and yanked out the Depthless Dream from over my shoulder.
The spinedrake twisted around and smashed its snake-like head into the golem, but the golem barely flinched. Mahrai twisted her staff through the air and ordered her minion to smash the spinedrake into the ground beside me. Bony wings flared out as the spinedrake tried to take to the air again, but the golem held fast. The drake’s wings slashed at the golem, and chunks of gravel ripped away, but the golem tightened its grip on the other creature’s wing and kept it grounded. The drake snapped its jaws shut and kicked at the golem with its hind legs. The golem swayed in place and dropped to a knee but didn’t relinquish its crushing grip.
The two other spinedrakes barreled down toward the plateau to help their brother. Sparks danced over the slate as their claws dug into the ground and skidded them to a halt. Vesma, Kegohr, and Faryn circled around one drake while I sprinted toward the other.
It was time to get some new cores.
The spinedrake twisted its neck to face me. Glittering red eyes narrowed in rage, and it gnashed its dagger-like teeth at me. The monster had to be the size of a large van, twice as long, and covered in more spikes than a porcupine. It definitely wasn’t what I would call a ‘tiny dragon’.
A tidal wave of white-hot flame streamed from the drake’s mouth toward me. I raised my weapons and called upon the power of ash. An ashen cocoon wrapped itself around my body and absorbed the flames. Despite my Fire Immunity technique, my skin burned at the intensity of the attack, and my feet skidded over the slate as I fought to keep myself from getting turned into an extra-crispy Swordslinger.
“Such power,” Yono murmured. “This will be a good challenge indeed, Master. But you will not prevail by playing to its strengths.”
I found my water channels and blasted the spinedrake with a Crashing Wave. Steam hissed off the spinedrake’s
