109 Battle Royal (1/2)

It was utter chaos, at least for the enemy's side. But that's what happens when you're an arrogant fairy who doesn't prepare for the unexpected.

I sensed a shade of my former captain, Rosalind Roselle, in the two-thousand-man pixie commander, who, as he watched invading forces break through the meager defenses he'd placed behind himself, looked like he was turning paler and paler by the minute.

Behind me, Edo and Shanks had caused a storm of hurt on the fairy soldiers who just couldn't manage to stop their unstoppable onslaught.

I heard the smashing of bones which I knew instinctively was caused by the slamming of Shanks' war hammer. I also heard the familiar whirring sound—like that of a helicopter's blades coming to life—and I knew without a doubt that Edo was twirling his glaive around, something he loved to do when steeped in enemies.

Although I kept my focus forward, I understood that my two tanks were doing their job well as the forces in front of me were thinning out more and more. Meaning the enemies on this side of the oasis had obviously been distracted by Edo's and Shanks' performance that they were drawn over to try and stop them.

However, this didn't mean there was zero resistance before me.

A kobold warrior, its mouth hanging open to reveal sharp canines and copious amounts of drool, charged at me with a kite shield raised forward in one hand and a khopesh sword on the other.

\”Like a bolt of lightning, carve away all defenses with a single glistening blade,\” I whispered as I met his charge.

It was the mantra I'd been using the last few months whenever I needed to quickly activate Augmentare. I made it up after I figured out that a chant was the best way to make the skill work for me.

I still couldn't manage to keep it active for more than a few seconds at a time, but that didn't stop me from using those precious few seconds to my advantage.

Case in point, I swung my falchion—coated in the devastating aura of a lightning elemental—forward with lightning speed toward the kobold's shield. The falchion's shadowblade sank into the enemy's steel shield, penetrating past it and into the arm holding onto it. Then it continued its sweeping arc all the way to the other side, ensuring that both shield and arm were severed.

Understandably, the kobold screamed in surprise and pain, but what it should have done was send its khopesh slashing forward to deflect my follow-up attack.

A simple twist of my wrist and my shadowblade reversed course. It continued its momentum in a sideward slash that bit deep into the exposed abdomen of my target.

Blood and guts spilled out of the kobold by the time I finished my cross slash combo and the lightning coating wrapped around the shadowblade disappeared back into the ether.

From what I understand, not many viseres or fairies could call on spirits of air that were able to harness the awesome power of lightning, which might mean that I was awesome too.

This thought raced across my mind as I dodged the spear thrust of a second kobold warrior. I ducked underneath him and hurried onward, not bothering to turn around to counter as I just heard a familiar berserker's roar right behind me.

There was a second kobold scream, and I knew Luca's attack was successful.

\”Don't stop! Keep going!\” I ordered.

We needed to get to that dumbfounded pixie commander before Al Sheridan did.

To my far left, I heard Varda's chant almost like an echo in the wind.

\”Spirits of earth, to this offering of stones please descend and awaken to me as my stone friend,\” she chanted.

Then I heard the sound of something heavy coming to life, and I was reassured that my plan was going smoothly so far.

An elf appeared on my left with daggers in both hands. Behind him, a malevolent shadow was screeching toward him, her own katana rising out of the darkness wrapped around her.

I flipped the elf with the Fayne's version of the finger which in human terms would be a reverse peace sign before ignoring it completely.

There was no need to worry as the dark shadow, which was Enna Blackthorn, was already within reach of slitting that elf's throat.

I pressed on with Luca right behind me. Two elves and a kobold were in our way. Then they were gone as if they were nothing more than road kill on the path of a much larger stone golem than I'd ever seen Varda summon before.

My eyes were wide with surprise as I watch this massive creature, which was nearly twenty-feet-tall, lumber toward the kobolds that were clustered together to my immediate right.

A giggling Varda was seated on the shoulder of her stone golem. She turned toward me and pointed toward her stone golem while mouthing, \”My spell's gotten so much stronger, Commander!\”