“Kill those two; I’ll take the bitch.” I snarled, only to hear mocking laughter float down from the top of the building. Her whip flashed out, cutting a furrow across my chest. The wicked barbs that tipped it flashed in the reflected firelight as it flowed back to her.
“Can you even reach me up here, mortal?” she gloated, her voice dripping with condescension.
“Your kind are good for little, beside the worth of your hides, which are silkily soft, when treated right. I’ll make sure…gah!” She cried out, spinning and smashing her right hand out with blurring speed, batting Bane from the air as he leapt at her.
He was sent hurtling to the floor across the room, her enhanced strength evident in the speed and force of his descent.
She lifted her right hand, staring at the cut across her forearm in disbelief, before howling in rage as she realized what had happened.
“Deathbloom!” She howled in fury, dropping Oracle’s prison to the floor and spinning around, searching the webbing above her for something. In the time that it took her to identify what she needed, I’d chugged one of my more powerful mana potions, feeling my mana jump by a hundred and thirty points, then set off running, the sounds of screaming and fighting roaring to life behind me as I went.
I ran and jumped, planting one foot on a pile of stacked boxes to kick off and smack against the wall of the building she stood on. She was off, her legs flashing as she fled to her nest, just as I grabbed the edge of the roof, pulling hard. I dragged myself upwards, swinging my naginata over the edge to clatter against the flat roof.
I scrabbled against it, slowly sliding backwards, until I released my weapon, and used both hands to pull myself atop the building.
By the time I maneuvered myself over the edge of the roof to lie on my back, the Drider was in her nest, screaming abuse down at us as she frantically scuttled across it, headed towards an alcove high above the ground.
I lay there and grinned, casting Firebolt again, putting the minimum mana into it as I cast and threw it upwards, casting again as fast as I could. Firebolt after firebolt flew true, the Drider spitting acidic hatred at me as she fled, promises of what she’d do to me and mine, and laughing at my poor aim.
I grinned up at her as I fired the last two Firebolts off, knowing what she didn’t…I hadn’t been aiming at her.
The flaming spheres barreled through the air, passing over her head, to smash into two more patches of webbing, their flames flaring out and spreading wildly. The fires were typically short-lived, but in webbing, they had found a perfect fuel: air on all sides, dust and debris stuck to it, and the silken strands went up like rags doused in gasoline.
When the last two patches caught, the tension was too much, and strands began to snap, first one, then two, then six, then dozens. The end flashing backwards under the pressure of the Drider’s weight, the web came loose, and she screamed in rage and fear as it began to fall, curling up around herself as her weight sped the end of her nest.
I had a split second in which I grinned up at her, satisfaction radiating from Amon, until reality caught up with me, and I realized what rested directly underneath her.
“Well, fuck me sideways!” I grunted, my hand moving practically of its own volition to grasp my naginata, lifting it and bracing its base against the roof. I curled up around my weapon and shoved my last few points of mana into it, causing it to flare to life, flames licking up the blade to meet the body that fell towards me.
***
Bane groaned as he shook himself, scowling up at the creature that had batted him away so easily. Hissing in pain as a row of broken ribs made their presence known, he watched as light flared from atop the building, before being snuffed out as the enormous Drider smashed through the roof, vanishing inside with a scream and a crunch of falling masonry.
The walls shuddered, swayed for an eternity, before falling inwards to collapse one atop the other, burying the Drider, as well as the one he’d sworn his life to protect.
He roared in anger as he forced himself to his feet and staggered when his leg gave out, falling to the floor and staring in shock at the cloud of dust and debris that marked the collapsed building.
***
Lydia and Cam had rushed at the closest of the Drow mutations as soon as they’d moved down the wall, while Miren sent arrow after arrow flashing through the air, only to be batted away by its impossibly fast limbs.
It screamed in rage and flung itself forward through the air, a silver serrated sword held in each fist, black and silver accented armor flashing in the dark cavern. It landed lightly, darting forward, almost faster than Lydia could see. The force of the impact against her shield staggered her, before the second blade smashed her sword aside. The Drow leaned back and kicked her in the chest, sending her crashing to her back.
The freakish thing spun then, its long white hair streaming behind him as it twisted, leaning back to allow Cam’s massive axe to flash through the air overhead.
Cam grunted, staggering back as the Drow flipped itself back upright, seemingly barely brushing the floor with the pommel of one sword to propel itself. As it straightened, it stabbed out, the wicked blade kissing Cam’s cheek and slicing effortlessly through
