20 No Time For Caution 3/3 (1/2)
”No!” Rita's cry echoed inside the gate.
”-Tomecraft: Calamity Thunderbolt!-”
Echidna rolled down from the roof, struck by thunder. It was not enough to kill a twice evolved Beast, but it would buy her some time. Rita moved closer to TanYan, who was on his knees and breathed heavily.
”-Flames of Gehenna!-”
Rita blocked the path with a giant firewall, although it won't stand for long, it would buy her a few seconds.
”Dummy...” TanYan spat out some blood, ”why are you screaming?”
Around a dozen spikes stuck out of his body, making him a wannabe hedgehog. He grunted and began to pull them out one by one, while Rita chanted spells:
”-Tomecraft: Greater Balm!-”
”-Tomecraft: Greater Disinfect!-”
”Hon, you are worrying too much,” he coughed out some more blood, ”I'm fine. Your regeneration is helping already.”
”Stupid iron can. It's not like I'm worried about you. It's just that the Commander asked me to bring you back!” She turned around, electrocuting few Beasts that got past the wall.
”Yes-yes. Thank you so much for your hospitality.” He slowly rose to his feet and picked up his weapons. The wounds on TanYan's body were almost healed by that moment, although his armor was full of holes.
A little over a minute passed, they needed to hold on longer.
The effect of the wall almost ended, and more Beasts rushed into the gate's tunnel.
”-Flames of Gehenna!-”
Rita saw that TanYan was not completely ready and decided to buy some more time. She also needed more Mana.
”-Fountain of Eternal Youth!-”
TanYan began to refresh his spells when a pack of fire-resistant beasts broke through.
”-Tomecraft: Calamity Chain Lightning!-”
Rita was forced to stop her channeling to wipe out the beasts. It was thanks to his years of training and fighting that the first thing TanYan did was to restart his lantern.
Meter sized spiders crawled the walls of the tunnel.
”-Tomecraft: Calamity Firebird!-” -- ”-Tomecraft: Calamity Firebird!-” -- ”-Tomecraft: Calamity Firebird!-”
There were a lot of them and, although they were weak, they spat a strong web that could immobilize even a Knight.
”Out of Mana!” Rita backed away and began her channeling.
TanYan gripped his sword and began to throw attacking spells:
”-Reality Slash!-” -- ”-Reality Slash!-”
The hits left huge holes in the tunnel, and they also cleared out all the spiders.
”Maybe we can collapse the tunnel?” He asked Rita after seeing the damage his spells made to the walls.
”And what's next? They'll crawl around or break through anyway, but we'd lose our only choke point.” Rita was not amused by his bright idea, as usual.
Instinctively TanYan covered himself with the shield, and a moment later it violently shook from a heavy impact. Few spikes dropped to the ground smashed from the contact with his shield.
”Rita, we need to take it down, cover me!” He quickly moved the shield to his back and took the sword with both hands. Rita stood in front of him and chanted her spells:
”-Tomecraft: Calamity Wave of Force!-”
”-Tomecraft: Calamity Fire Rain!-”
When the closest Beasts were pushed back, and the rest distracted and halted by the Fire Rain, she dropped her book on the floor again and used another unique spell:
”-Tower of Flesh!-”
The bodies of the Beasts glowed blue and were pulled to Rita's position. They quickly assembled into a giant pile of meat and bones, covering Rita and TanYan from the attacks. As the bodies belonged to the Wavespawn, they were sturdy and durable. They were quickly chomped by the Echidna's attack, as twice evolved beast out of lantern's reach was an enormous threat, but there were more corpses around to replace the damaged ones.
”Low on Mana!” Rita shouted as the Tower ate away her Mana pool.
”Almost done!”
TanYan's sword glowed with red, and the color rose in intensity with each passing second. After a few more seconds he was finally ready to add the last part of the spell:
”-Shooting Star: Alpha!-”
The first red circle appeared at the tip of the sword. The moment Rite heard that she dropped the Tower and went behind TanYan to replenish her Mana.
”-Shooting Star: Omega!-”
The second circle appeared in front of the first one, even bigger and brighter.
”-Shooting Star!-”
A red beam shot out of the sword and pierced the Echidna. It fell down to the ground with a huge round hole in its body. The power of this spell was unrivaled, but it took a lot of time and Mana to prepare it.
As TanYan tried to retrieve his shield, a Beast jumped on him and bit his leg. He discarded the idea about his shield and gripped the sword with both hands, cutting the Beast. His Mana was low, so he couldn't use any spells and resorted to cutting and slashing.
As the first Beast was done for, another Wavespawn sunk its teeth into his shoulder to spill more Noble blood.
”-Tomecraft: Calamity Chain Lightning!-”
”-Tomecraft: Calamity Wave of Force!-”
”-Tomecraft: Greater Balm!-”
”-Tomecraft: Greater Disinfect!-”
”-Shillen Elder!-”
Rita's barrage of spells cleared the closest pack of Beasts and quickly tended to TanYan's needs before she went to replenish his Mana.
”That's my girl!” He cheered up and took out his shield, then refreshed few of his spells.
The shield was important not only as his own cover but as another defensive wall to protect the lantern he gripped in the same hand. His lantern was small but potent, tailored and adjusted to his style of combat.
”Rita, you can take a breath now, I'll hold for-”
As he was finishing his phrase, a huge beam of lava shot out of the Hellhound's maw. Hellhound was a twice evolved Wavespawn, and it stood outside of the lantern's range, so its full-powered attack instantly melted TanYan's shield, lantern, and his left arm. He fell to the ground and tried to cover his wound as his scream echoed inside the tunnel.
”-Ice Maiden!-”
An icy cage appeared around the Hellhound, and numerous frozen spikes impaled the Beast. It was not yet dead but was damaged enough to leave the battle for some time. Other Beasts rushed into the gate.
”-Tomecraft: Calamity Wave of Force!-”
”-Tomecraft: Calamity Fire Rain!-”
”-Flames of Gehenna!-”
”-Lord of Vermillion!-”
The beasts were pushed back, and the entrance to the tunnel was now covered with the Fire Wall. On top of that lightning struck the same spot twice a second.
While Rita ran to TanYan, she also downed two Mana potions as her own Mana pool was now depleted.
”Stay still! I'll patch you up!” She blurted out with a trembling voice.
”I knew... you were worried... about me, Ri.” TanYan muttered in a low voice. His breathing was frequent and very short. ”I'm sorry... I...”
”Don't talk!” Rita opened her tome and pointed at TanYan:
”-Tomecraft: Restoration!-”
A green circle appeared around his left side and spawned dozens of bandages.
”I'll take it from here. You sleep.” She said and wanted to stand up, but TanYan grabbed her hand and said: