Chapter 408: The Sound That Likely Summons Beasts
(so minutes before)
Gregory froze as he heard the loud hiss, his gaze locked with Ronan’s for half a heartbeat, the sa realization flashing between them.
That sound. It was definitely a Trihydra, but it wasn’t just a Trihydra — there were other beasts too.
The strange sound from the cave... it sounded like a summoning. It was only after the sound that the Trihydras arrived along with the other beasts.
Gregory’s fingers tightened around his axe. "That wasn’t just a beast," he muttered under his breath, dread creeping into his voice. "That thing fucking called them."
The air thickened with tension and impending chaos.
Near the far edge of the clearing, a tidebreaker lood around the kneeling civilians like a living rock. Its massive limbs arched outward, each movent cracking the frozen ground beneath it.
The little girl clutched the young man desperately, her small arms wrapped around his waist as if she could anchor him to existence. Her face was streaked with tears and dirt, her cries thin and trembling against the roar of battle.
Ronan’s jaw clenched hard as he tried to fight back Darius, who wasn’t even giving him a chance to breathe.
But a lapse gave him just the mont to turn and nod to Jeffery, who didn’t hesitate.
He pivoted and broke into a sprint toward the trapped civilians, boots kicking up shards of snow as he barreled forward, spear lowered, eyes burning with determination.
He barely made it halfway when two massive shapes exploded from the treeline, blocking his path.
Skylurs.
Their enormous white bodies were like living avalanches. Their thick fur shimred with frost and snow, each powerful muscle rippling beneath their ghostly coats. Their massive skulls bore jagged obsidian-like teeth, curved and brutal, gleaming with predatory hunger. Yellow eyes burned with hunger.
They moved with terrifying speed for creatures of their size.
One Skylur lunged directly into Jeffrey’s path, jaws snapping shut inches from his chest. He skidded backward barely in ti, boots sliding across the frozen ground as he narrowly avoided being crushed.
The second Skylur circled wide, cutting off any escape route.
"Jeff!" Gregory barked.
He charged forward, axe swinging in a wide arc. The blade slamd into the first Skylur’s shoulder with a bone-rattling impact, carving through dense fur and muscle. The beast snarled, whipping around with shocking agility and slamming its massive forearm into Gregory’s side.
Gregory staggered but stayed upright, boots digging in.
Even wounded, the Skylur barely slowed.
It took at least two strong warriors to fell one of these monsters — and they didn’t have the numbers.
Their group was stretched thin.
Chaos fractured outward.
Sam tightened her grip on her sword and tried to move toward Jeffrey’s side, but she didn’t get the opportunity.
Two tidebreakers blocked her path. She was with the trackers on the team, and the trackers were not fighters.
They slamd down around her, creating a deadly cage.
Sam reacted instantly.
She rolled sideways just as one massive limb crashed into the spot where she’d been standing, the impact sending shards of ice and dirt spraying violently into the air. She sprang back to her feet and pivoted again as the second limb ca down like a falling tower.
"Get cover!" she told the trackers, and they nodded.
Her movents were sharp and precise — duck, roll, pivot, slash — her blade carving shallow wounds into the creature’s hardened surface. Blackened frost ichor splattered across the snow, sizzling faintly.
But there were two of them.
And they were relentless.
"Sam!" Darek shouted.
He pivoted to help her — and froze.
A Trihydra uncoiled directly in his path.
The monstrous serpent towered above him, its three obsidian-scaled heads weaving independently, each set of glowing green eyes locking onto him with predatory focus. Venom dripped from its fangs, hissing where it struck the snow.
The ground trembled beneath its shifting mass.
Darek swallowed hard, spear trembling slightly in his grip.
He had never faced a Trihydra alone. He had never even fought one, but he wasn’t going to give up now.
He set his feet and raised his spear.
The Trihydra struck.
One head lunged forward in a lightning-fast snap. Darek barely twisted aside in ti, the venomous fangs slicing through the air where his neck had been a fraction of a second earlier. He retaliated with a desperate thrust, spearhead scraping against thick scales but failing to penetrate deeply.
The second head slamd downward, forcing him backward. He stumbled, boots sliding, barely keeping his balance as the third head hissed and coiled, preparing to strike.
Darek’s breath ca fast and shallow.
He was not strong enough for this. He knew that.
Just then, an arrow flew and struck the Trihydra’s eyes.
The arrows looked familiar, and he smiled a bit.
"Helios," he said under his breath.
Helios was the archer on the team, and he assisted both Sam and Darek as they fought off their attackers.
anwhile, Ronan deflected Darius’s blade with a sharp parry, sparks bursting between their weapons. He twisted, pivoted, and used the opening to break away, sprinting toward the kneeling civilians.
Darius snarled and lunged after him.
Ronan slid across the snow and dropped beside the young man, slicing through the restraints binding his wrists with a single clean stroke.
"Get them out," Ronan snapped. "Now."
The young man didn’t hesitate.
He scrambled to his feet and rushed toward the others who were bound nearby, cutting their restraints quickly with shaking hands.
Darius struck.
Ronan barely managed to block the attack, steel ringing violently as their blades clashed again. The impact rattled through his arms, forcing him backward a step.
They exchanged rapid strikes — slash, parry, pivot — their movents tight and deadly, neither giving ground easily.
Behind them, the young man freed the last restraint.
Then the snow exploded.
A mirelurker burst from beneath the frozen surface, its massive form surging upward like a nightmare given flesh. Its slick, dark body glead wetly as its limbs clamped around the young man’s leg and dragged him violently.
He scread and thrashed around in the snow as the mirelurker attempted to draw him below.
Ronan’s head snapped around.
For half a heartbeat, instinct scread at him to break away.
Darius didn’t give him the chance.
Their blades collided again, forcing Ronan back into the duel.
The freed civilians rushed toward the fallen man, grabbing at his arms, trying desperately to pull him free — but chaos swallowed them.
One cloaked figure surged forward and cut into the group rcilessly, blade flashing, blood spraying across the snow. Panic erupted as screams shattered the air.
The little girl wailed.
Her small hands clutched at the young man’s cloak as he struggled against the mirelurker’s grip, pain tearing through his features.
"It’s okay," he rasped to her desperately, voice shaking but gentle. "It’s okay — I’ve got you. Don’t be scared."
Ronan forced an opening from Darius at that point and took the chance to help the man.
He pivoted sharply, twisted his wrist, and drove his sword straight through the mirelurker’s skull.
The blade pierced deep.
The creature convulsed violently and went limp.
The young man collapsed onto the snow, gasping violently as the others dragged him free.
Ronan grabbed his arm and hauled him upright. "Can you use a sword?"
The young man nodded shakily, eyes wild but resolute.
Ronan shoved a spare scabbard into his hands. "Stay close. Protect her."
The young man didn’t hesitate.
Ronan turned back toward Darius — and froze as a hiss slid directly behind him.
Cold crawled up his spine, and he turned slowly to see a Trihydra less than ten feet away from him.
All three heads locked onto him at once.
Venom dripped from its fangs, hissing softly against the snow.
Ronan’s heart stuttered.
His gaze flicked across the battlefield in frantic assessnt.
Sam was still locked between two tidebreakers, even with Helios helping her, rolling and striking desperately.
Gregory and Jeffrey struggled desperately against the Skylurs. They had killed one, but another joined the attack, blood streaking Gregory’s side as one beast slamd into him again.
Darek staggered backward under the Trihydra’s relentless assault, barely managing to keep his footing.
Bodies lay scattered across the clearing.
One of their pack mbers lay motionless near the treeline.
A Skylur lowered its massive head and tore into the fallen man’s body with brutal efficiency.
Ronan’s stomach twisted violently. Kingston... he had been one of the trackers who had sought cover.
Ronan swallowed.
They were surrounded and outnumbered.
His grip tightened on his sword until his knuckles burned. He fought to keep Darius at bay, searching for any chance like before so he could help the others.
He wasn’t focused on his fight with Darius, and Darius saw that as an opportunity. His sword made contact with Ronan’s shoulder, and he smiled in glee.
Ronan barely registered it. He was filled with regret at being driven by revenge — a revenge he was failing at at the mont.
He could do nothing as his people fell.
His breath ca shallow as the Trihydra shifted closer, its massive body coiling with predatory patience.
Snow crunched beneath its weight.
The battlefield roared with chaos and blood and desperation.
But then, Ronan heard sothing else, and this ti the sound didn’t fill him with dread.
A thunder of paws shattered the air, and seven dark shapes burst from the treeline and tore into the clearing.
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