Swaying to the side of a hopeful blade, I let it swish past harmlessly before my own blade sang out, the deadly symphony I had been creating continuing on as I sliced through their chest piece before opening a new gash across their face as I drew out yet another terrified and pained scream.
Leaving them to enjoy the embrace of a slower death, I continued forwards to reunite with our line, crossing the paths of a few different cultists that were all trying desperately to bring down at least one of the 'elites' that they had been shouting about ever since we got into lee range.
One of them attempted to mimic the sort of spell that Jahi had used earlier with their axes, leaving behind a lingering trail of mana that would damage well after they had swung, while another bull rushed with a gigantic sword pointed straight at my chest.
The two of them tried to ti their rush together so that they could trap between their attacks and bring down, but sadly for the axe wielder I was quick enough to avoid the lingering attacks entirely, while the sword wielder was far slower than their compatriot, allowing to slip beneath their guard and stab them in the throat.
Despite being a rather large hunk of muscle that sword user was quite easily turned around, allowing their 'friend' to hack away at their back as I acquired myself a rather screamy shield that was making a fair bit of noise despite having a sword sticking through their throat.
Pushing them back and into the axe wielder, I left them to enjoy the company of my mate as she cleaned up after so that I could press forwards even more, dispatching the various cultists as swiftly as I could when I felt Jahi 'order' to return.
The Demoness was still standing tall in the middle of our line, letting the enemy co to her as she instead just enjoyed the constant stream of kills that walked into her blade, while her shield remained as solid as a wall as she held her ground.
However the feeling of those eyes only continued to grow the longer we remained locked in combat with the cultists, and not even a mont after I returned to Jahi's side the order ca for them to retreat, a deep, guttural bellow pulling them back.
There were no words in that bellow, but they turned tail and ran away as quickly as possible, and while it was tempting to chase after them and cut them down before they could retreat completely that would be disastrous for us, so almost all of the squad leaders were shouting to remain together and wait.
Watching them flee and not give chase to them was sothing hard to do since it made sense to chase them down on an instinctual level while logically it made sense to maintain cohesion and wait and see what they were planning with this retreat.
They rushed back down the streets towards the center of the city, disappearing from sight rather quickly as they turned down corners and rushed into alleyways to break line of sight from us, and that was because I - and a few others - were still taking potshots at them as they
ran.
Just because it was smarter to remain together didn't an I wasn't allowed to use so of my mana to pick off a few of them whenever I could, and the bodies continued to pile up as I made liberal use of the efficient and wonderful icicles I could create en masse.
"I don't know how I feel about that... why fortify the city just to give it up so easily? I an there is no escape above ground unless they've learned how to fly, and there is no way in hell they managed to create underground escape routes, so..."
Jahi's mulling made Saif shrug as the Death Jackal just watched the cultists flee, while Zahrah said "It's probably a hopeful last stand behind an innurable amount of traps and overlapping kill zones. That's what I would do, anyways; save all of my heavy hitters for the main event and have it located in the tightest area possible."
"That just ans this is going to be a hectic fight..."
"Forwards!"
The shout from the Sultana ushered us all into action once again as we resud marching, this ti down the tight streets of the city with our shields raised and our mana pooling around one another as we warily searched each of the walls and rooftops around us for any sort of enemies or traps.
There was a worry that Zahrah would be right, but there was nothing we could do as we set off after the cultists, with the feeling of being watched growing stronger the closer we got to the center of the city.
Much like the rest of the cities in the Sultanate, the buildings were all rather open and simplistic in construction, sporting wide open windows and various patios and awnings to keep away from the sun, while the closeness with which they were constructed trapped the heat inside.
Most of the streets used to have long awnings that covered the entire street, hanging from one side to the other, but with the cultists moving in that was no longer the case as they tore everything down for the fun of it, leaving the city open to the sun's deadly heat.
The mont we ca across the center of the city though, we were not at all surprised to find them regrouped and reard for a new kind of fight; erging from the streets into the wide open plaza, we instantly were bombarded with spells and arrows as the cultists attacked us instantly, and soon the thunderous booming of high powered spells began to slam against our shields.
One such blast smacked against the ribcage shield Jahi wielded, and it pushed the Demoness back far enough for a few arrows to plink against the shields of the others and buckle our line, revealing weak points that they wanted to take advantage of imdiately.
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