Broken

Chapter 30 (Yejun)

Yejun and Alex now found them in the worst situation. The gryphon was bad enough, but there was no way they could take on even one harpy in their current state, much less the flock they now found themselves surrounded by. The vaguely human shaped monsters with wings had them surrounded, their screeches and manic laughter filling the air just as much as their molted brown wings.

Unlike depictions before the advent of the Towers, harpies were not monstrously attractive woman with artfully placed feathers and a pretty face. These creatures had no definite gender, had filthy pale skin with patches of splotchy feathers, and grotesque talons on both their hands and feet. They had triangular heads with long ears, even longer horns, and wild manes of hair in varying colors. There was no mistaking these beings as anything but the monsters they were.

And, as ugly as they were, they were twice as violent and depraved, enjoying the hunt almost as much as the eventual kill. Yejun had read that these beings even brought humans back to their nests, only to slowly kill them by eating them alive over several days. It would be the absolute worst way to go.

"I have enough mana in the tank for one last, big spell." Alex manages to grit out between his teeth. He was taking a protective stance before Yejun and glared up at the cackling harpies above. Rather than immediately attacking, they appeared to be enjoying toying with their human prey first. "As soon as I cast <Blue Flash> we need to run into the forest. They will chase us, but with any luck the trees might provide us with enough cover..."

Cover for what? Yejun thought, but did not voice out loud. It was a pointless question, as he was sure Alex knew as well as he did that a few trees would not deter the harpies as they might a gryphon. These monsters would hunt them without a care for such things. Still, it beat just standing here waiting for death. Besides, Yejun could hardly talk when he didn't have a viable counter plan either.

All he could do was nod his head and pray this wouldn't be the last thing he ever did.

A harpy dived down and made a playful swipe at the pair beneath the trees. Alex didn't move, concentrating as he was, but Yejun let out a frightened grunt. The creatures claws had come so close to his face that he felt the air swoosh by and could smell the vile stench of the monster.

Alex lifted a hand to the monster, his other gripping Yejun by an elbow, and called out: "<Blue Flash>!"

Like last time, a thin line of blue lightning came down from the sky. But, before Yejun could see more, Alex was already yanking him farther into the trees, looking exhausted as he did. Behind the fleeing pair, amongst the delighted shrieks of the harpies, he heard and smelt the activation of the lightning spell. There was a flash of blue light and Yejun heard several of the pursuers cackles turn to pain laced shrieks. 

Unfortunately, he didn't see a single harpy fall from the sky. At best, Alex's spell had done nothing but stun a couple of the them.

"Shit!" The mage cursed as he and Yejun stumbled and tripped through the tall trees. Both were now out of mana, and nearly out of stamina. The only thing keeping them alive at the moment were the bad habits of the harpies that had them playing with their food before killing it.

"Watch out!" Yejun called, shoving Alex ahead when several wind based spells crashed through the trees, breaking off branches and cascading needles down upon them. Both men narrowly missed getting sliced in half.

Then Yejun fell to the mossy ground, nearly taking Alex with him. This was it... he had just gotten them both killed.

The pair locked eyes for a brief second, Alex reaching out to grab hold of Yejun better, when another voice broke through the mayhem.