— Rutrogar Drugal, “Insectoids of Ageria: Volume One,” page 118
Emily twisted mid-crouch and quick-fired at the nearest Sangrevoro.
She missed.
Before she could line up another shot, the two monsters lunged.
Emily slipped back and tumbled over the ridge. Her back crashed against the stone slope.
Then her shoulder.
Then her side.
Lastly, her head.
Her sword clattered silently from her belt as she crashed to the sloped ground below.
She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Everything inside her exploded with pain. Her ribs ached and her hips burned. Her vision swam and spun as she tried getting to her feet. She had to roll onto her side and push herself up with all her energy. Blood ran from a scrape along her brow.
Her gun… where was it?
Emily spun around looking for it, but stumbled as she struggled to keep her balance.
There, on the ground a few feet away, was her gun, as well as four Sangrevoro creeping out from the underbrush. The creatures peeled their lips back in a silent snarl, drool dripping from their mouths as they prepared to pounce.
Where had they come from?
Emily narrowly avoided them as they slashed the air with their claws. Her stomach lurched like she was going to hurl. Her vision was blurry; she could just barely make out where they were. Emily held out her hand, and a surge of magic rushed to her fingertips. The gun flew into her palm, and she shot one of the Sangrevoros in the side.
The monster stumbled back as its three brothers quickly pounced on Emily.
She dodged aside, narrowly missing a set of claws, and fired wildly at the remaining Sangrevoro in panic.
One of them crumbled to the ground while another bolted from the side. Its claws snagged her chainmail and yanked her to the ground hard, one arm pinned under her body. She kicked frantically, squirming under the Sangrevoro’s weight as it tried ripping its claw free from the chainmail. Emily yanked her revolver around and fired point-blank past her ear. A gush of warm blood splashed against her neck and ran down her back. If not for the soundproof barrier around her, she likely would have gone deaf from how close the gun had been.
She shoved the Sangrevoro off and scrambled to pick up her sword. Her wide arc of her swing caught one of the remaining monsters across the chest. The beast writhed in pain as the beast-toxin sizzled its skin like a hot flame had been pressed against it. The other leapt from behind. Emily ducked and spun around, swinging upward, catching the monster’s chin and skewering it clean.
Only the injured Sangrevoro remained. The hair across its malnourished body frizzled, and its twin tails whirled rapidly as it snarled silently. It’s red eyes gleamed back at Emily as she readied for its attack. Her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it in her ears. Her lungs were burning. The weight of the armor was slowing her down way more than she had expected. And still, she waited.
Waited…
Waited…
The Sangrevoro charged, blood oozing from its side. Emily pivoted to the side, driving her blade straight through the monster’s spine.
The beast crumpled, going limp as the sword skewered it to the earth.
Emily stood there, her chest rising and falling as adrenaline surged through her system. She tried heaving the sword from the creature’s body, but it was stuck. Or maybe it was the weight of the creature making it awkward to pull the sword out. Either way, the blade was caught on something.
Emily grunted in panicked frustration, only to then realize she was still in the sound-deafening field. She did a quick survey and found two more approaching from around the ridge where she had fallen. They were the ones that caused her to go tumbling over the side.
Shit.
They lunged, and Emily let go of her sword, dodging aside. She tried to put distance between herself and them, but the creatures were fast, pouncing and slashing, flashing their fangs as they growled silently.
She needed a weapon, desperately. Then again, she already had one.
Heat surged down her arms and to her fingertips, and when the two Sangrevoro lunged for her again, fire exploded from her palm, engulfing them both in a torrent of orange flames. The beasts stumbled and writhed around helplessly as the fire silently consumed them, incinerating their flesh down to the bone.
Emily couldn’t help but smile despite the panic raging inside her. She could hardly believe she just did any of that.
Still, the sound-dampening field remained up. There were more nearby still.
She needed her weapons.
Emily returned to her stuck sword, but before she could grab it, something seized her arm.
She yelped silently and whipped around, slamming her fist into the solid wall that was Mina. Pain exploded up her arm.
Mina’s silver eyes narrowed in a mix of irritation and amusement. The vampire hadn’t even flinched. She raised an eyebrow in a way that said: What are you doing?
Emily’s eyes widened, and she gestured her uninjured hand toward the charred Sangrevoro corpses, then to the one with her sword stuck in it: Did you not see that?!
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Mina glanced at the bodies, then back at Emily. She stepped past her and ripped the sword effortlessly from the Sangrevoro, taking a chunk of the beast with it. The blade gleamed with toxin and blood as Mina handed it back to her. She then jabbed a finger toward the ridge: Get up there. Now.
Before Emily even had the chance to start back toward the ridge, an army of Sangrevoros poured from the ruins' front entrance. They were slinking low, twin-tails trashing wildly. The pack moved as one, a tide of snarling, sinewy muscle surging toward the ridge.
Emily’s stomach dropped. There were too many of them. She hesitantly raised her sword, but Mina pushed her aside and pointed away from the ruin. Then, she whirled her blade and dove into the fray.
Emily bolted the other direction, her lungs burning as she scrambled toward the slope. She tried keeping her footwork light, weaving around the rocks and roots as the ridge steepened, but the Sangrevoro were fast. Three of them had flanked her, bolting out from the underbrush to catch her before she could even turn up the hill.
Emily skidded to a halt and pivoted on her heel, swinging her blade behind her just as the first Sangrevoro leaped at her. The toxin burned the monster’s face. It collapsed, writhing. The second lunged, and Emily sidestepped, letting its momentum cause it to tumble down an adjacent slope. The third was faster, its claws raking her chainmail. The metal held, but the force knocked Emily back, her boots slipping on the loose gravel. She caught herself on a jagged rock and thrust her hand out. A telekinetic blast sent the Sangrevoro flying back into a tree. Emily didn’t even bother waiting to see if it got back up; the horde was forcing her toward the ruins. She made a drastic turn toward the cliff's edge, where a narrow walkway went under the crumbling balcony, and across the estate to a side entrance.
Several Sangrevoro tumbled down the mountainside as they tried following her, unable to slow down in time. Emily ducked through an archway half-hidden by vines and into the maze of open corridors and courtyards. She came into a vast chamber with a partially collapsed ceiling. An old chandelier hung from a rusted chain in its center. Emily sheathed her weapon and leapt toward the chiseled walls, grabbing onto the shallow outcroppings and hoisting herself up. Her feet found perching, and she was able to climb up to the narrow ledge that ran along the chamber's upper walls.
The horde of Sangrevoros slunk into the room, looking up at her and growling silently. Emily took a breather. She was safe, for now. Across the room, there was a narrow opening on the opposite ledge, a place where the Sangrevoros could crawl through to get to her. She needed to think fast. Emily started by taking a brief respite to reload her revolver. She fumbled with the cylinder, her hands shaking as she pulled the bullets from her belt. The Sangrevoro prowled below, moving around but never taking their eyes off her. The black furred hounds scraped and clawed at the walls, jumping in vain. Their drool-soaked teeth gnashed and snapped in her direction. One slip up and she’d be their dinner.
Emily slammed the cylinder shut, fully loaded. She did a quick scan of the room and narrowed her eyes on the old chandelier. She aimed carefully at the rusted chain, took a deep breath, and…
The bullet punched through it! The heap of metal crashed down onto the horde, exploding with what would have been a resounding boom if not for the sound-dampening field. Some of the Sangrevoro scrambled away while others were impaled by the shards of metal.
Emily scurried along the ledge and slipped through one of the narrow openings in the architecture. She came out onto a broken bridge that dangled over an overgrown courtyard below, where more of the monsters were waiting. They all noticed her and started sprinting toward a spiral stairwell leading up to the bridge. Emily ran across a gap in the bridge, barely clearing it, catching herself on a cracked pillar.
She ran, and ran, and ran, looking back when she could, and taking shots to slow some of them down. It was impossible. There were too many. Every corner she turned, every ledge she peered over, there was always one of them lurking. If there really was an endless horde of them on the other side of the rift, they needed to close it quickly.
Emily sprinted through an arched doorway and into another chamber, this one much longer and lined with towering statues of elven warriors. The floor was uneven with cracked tiles, patches of dirt, grass, and roots. A pack of Sangrevoro burst through a side entrance, slashing at Emily and narrowly missing her. She drew her sword and weaved between them, slashing and twirling out of harm's way, letting her momentum carry her blade into the beasts. The toxin burned and staggered them, slowing them down long enough for her to get away.
But there were already more behind her.
Emily heaved with telekinesis, pulling down one of the statues and crushing two Sangrevoro beneath the ancient stone. The others bound over the rubble and followed her up a spiral stairway leading to a mezzanine.
Emily yanked a loose tile from the floor with telekinesis and hurled it at one of the Sangrevoro, catching it in the face hard enough to draw blood. The other beasts slowed for only a moment, giving her more distance. Emily then pivoted, firing three times into the approaching horde, killing two, and missing her third shot. She backed through another doorway and screamed silently as a Sangrevoro snapped its jaws at her ankles. Emily kicked its snout and fell back. Fire burst from her palm, warding off the horde again as she scrambled back to her feet.
The Sangrevoro were relentless, pouring in from every entrance she passed. Her legs and lungs were burning, her heart was racing, she was sweating and swearing as she tried to find a way out of this elven maze. The weight of the armor was starting to slow her down, but she needed to keep moving. She had to find a way out, or a place to make a stand.
Emily stumbled into what she assumed was a dining hall. A massive stone table sat at the center, surrounded by scattered chairs and debris. A set of open doorways led out to a ruined balcony that gave her a view of… Cresthill Valley?
Her eyes widened. She was at the edge of the cliff.
Emily frantically scanned for any other entrances, but there was only one. The one she came through. That… and the cliff.
Emily turned on the door, and without hesitating, sent a surge of heat to her palms. Fire exploded wildly toward the doorway. The inferno scorched the stone and heated the air. Sweat soaked her skin as the fissure scars in her hands began to open and glow before her eyes. She had to relinquish the spell.
A pack of Sangrevoro lay burning in the doorway, but it wasn’t enough to slow the horde. A Sangrevoro lunged over the flaming corpses, and Emily ducked, letting it sail over her. She spun, slashing its back as it landed, then she thrust her hand out, telekinetically launching it onto the balcony and over the side.
Emily’s panicked breath only got faster as she turned back toward the doorway, sword and gun drawn, ready for whatever else was coming through that door. She prayed it would be Mina. She really needed her now. But it wasn’t. It was a hulking mass that walked through the doorway. It pushed the pile of burning corpses aside like nothing.
The Alpha.
Emily’s heart lurched as the beast reared onto its hind legs, towering over her, its claws glinting like curved daggers. She stumbled back, her breath catching as her nerves shot through her. The Alpha was massive and looked just as angry and just as ferocious in the daylight as it did at night. It’s black fur, it’s horns, and saber-tooth fangs.
Behind it, several Sangrevoro flooded into the chamber. There had to be two dozen standing behind the Alpha, but that’s all they did. Stand there. They were watching, waiting for the Alpha to finish her off so they could devour her.
Emily screamed uselessly for Mina, her voice muffled to utter silence.
The Alpha lunged, and Emily dove to the side, but its claws grazed her chainmail, and the force sent her crashing into a stone wall. Pain erupted across her back before she crashed to the floor. Emily quickly staggered to her feet, panting.
The Alpha was relentless, stalking forward on its hind legs.
Emily forced herself to roll onto her feet, narrowly avoiding another slam from its massive paws. They crashed down and shook the ruins, causing small debris to rain from the ceiling. She feinted, then swung her sword at the Alpha’s flank. The blade bit into its hide, the toxin sizzling, but the creature barely flinched. Its soundless roar rattled Emily’s bones. She ducked under its swipe and shot the beast in the thigh, but it only slowed the beast for a moment. She tried a fireball, but all it did was singe the monster’s fur. Its red eyes locked on her in a way that made Emily’s insides shrivel. She backed away, only to realize the balcony loomed behind her.
She swung her sword, catching the Alpha’s foreleg, but the beast’s weight was overwhelming. It reared up again, slashing with both claws. Emily parried one blow, the impact jarring her arms, but the second caught her side, sending her crashing against the balcony’s crumbling railing. Pain seared through her, the chainmail holding but bruising her ribs.
Desperate, Emily thrust her hand out, telekinetically yanking at the Alpha’s leg. It was too heavy for her to pull, but she caused it to stumble, giving her a moment to roll away. She scrambled to her feet and lunged, driving her sword deep into its side. The toxin burned, and the Alpha roared silently, slamming Emily to the ground with its massive paw. The chainmail shattered, and Emily gasped for air as the wind was knocked from her. She was bleeding somewhere under her garment, but she couldn’t tell.
The Alpha stumbled back and glared down at the sword embedded in its side. Then, the ground rumbled beneath them.
Emily’s eyes went wide as she watched a massive crack splinter across the stone balcony. Before she could even get to her feet, gravity took over, and the balcony gave way.
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