🏆 THE AMBY AWARDS 2023 TOP PICK - DIVERSE LIT 🏆
It's Rin and Hye-jin against the world. Or so it should have been.
Nagara Rin and Joon Hye-jin, college sweethearts and passionate gamers, have lived a fairytale marriage. Not even a decade after did...
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I scrambled back as the first line of the danburki rumbled up the steep slope. "Kora, what are you doing here?!" Cavya screamed as he flipped onto one of the beasts' hide, parrying a wayward trunk aiming to wrap itself around him.
The beasts attempted to climb up the walls of the crevice but kept sliding down. Rabid shrieks erupted from their mouths, giving me an unobstructed view past their squid-like noses and into rows upon rows of flat teeth and fangs. I forced the fear blocking my throat down. There's no time for that.
I checked my stats. After firing one of Ahrian's attacks, they dwindled to at least half. Should be enough for another minor spell. I scanned my skills list, looking for whatever has the most destructive power. I cursed. Valdyrsi aren't known for their explosive magical output, mostly because their main skill relied on stealth and disguise.
Wait. Disguise.
I craned my neck down at the danburki clamoring for a way up. An idea popped into my head. But, to do that, I'd need to get them out of here first. "When I cast my spell, I'll draw the rest of them while you run for the forest!" I screamed into the fray. "I'll hold them off until you reach the town!"
Ahrian stopped firing, pressing herself against the trunk of her tree. "Leeds! What's this fool saying?" she muttered something under her breath as she whirled back and started firing again. Her bullets grazed the danburki's thick skin but didn't do any noticeable damage. Some did manage to take out the baboon-like creatures darting from between the thick stomping legs. When did the mission details ever involve those apes?
"What's the order, Cav?" Valren was back in the air, torching the danburki hides below him. The smell of burning fur wafted across the crevice and would probably stay there. "I don't think I could hold on any longer."
"Nazran, still good?" Cavya sliced a trunk and drove his sword into the beast he latched on. Instead of exploding in a shower of dust and blood, the blade stayed stuck on its neck. With a weak grunt, he pulled it out. The danburki continued thrashing despite the gaping and bleeding hole on its back.
" 'fraid not, Cav," the summoner's voice was breathy when he answered. He was on the edge of the crevice, holding back two danburkis which weren't fixated on climbing up the walls with his own sword and two tiger-like beasts lunging and tearing considerable spots off the enemies' furs. "Don't know how long the summons could last. Don't have it in me to make a new one."
Cavya turned to me, our eyes meeting through the sea of tentacles and stomping feet. "Do it," he said. Then, in a much louder voice, he called, "Knights, retreat!"
I gave him a brief nod, watching my ex-comrades start their withdrawal. Just as the danburki began to notice, I jumped into the crevice, hands outstretched. My fingers slapped against one of the tentacle-like noses speeding for me. Rubber. It felt like rubber.
That's all I need. "Shift!" I shouted, my voice ringing across the chaos.
The first thing that registered was the pain. My vision tunneled and stretched, my skin and bones tearing and knocking against each other as they tried to take the shape of a netherbeast. A veil of red and gray blinded me. A roar tore through my lips, but through my fading hearing, I could only make out the same cries of the beasts around me.
