Upon receiving his command, Saxum's unit wheeled about and made a break for their leader, with Thorian and Ventus providing protective cover using their potent combination skill. Only once the last kobold had safely retreated behind him did the duo pivot on their heels and sprint towards safety.
Astride their direwolves, Thorian and Ventus swiftly closed the distance with Saxum and his warriors. They then deliberately moderated their speed, ensuring that their pursuers remained within their line of sight.
"Saxum, it's time for us to part ways," Thorian ordered, his voice steady amidst the turmoil. "You head south; I'll go north. Stay true to the plan until you reach Zogthar."
“Understood, my king,” Saxum responded, his tone solemn yet determined. "May fortune favor you."
With that, Saxum and his unit veered off to the south. Meanwhile, Thorian, accompanied by Ventus and Aqua, spurred their mounts northward.
Just as Thorian had anticipated, the human onslaught divided into two separate factions, each determined to intercept him and Saxum. Spearheading the group trailing Thorian and his comrades was a fleet-footed assassin, whose nimbleness rivaled Thorian's own. The man brandished an enormous knife, a wild and frenzied gleam lighting up his eyes.
Is he a first-advancement assassin? Thorian raised an eyebrow. So like I thought it’s the Soul Reaver Quest. They are getting double the experience in exchange for their humanity.
"Ventus, turn around," Thorian commanded, twisting in his saddle atop Harald to confront the approaching foe. "Let's give them a taste of fire. Aqua, keep your sights locked on that swift vermin."
"Was waiting for you to say that, King," Ventus replied, spinning around with a wicked grin splashed across his face. Meanwhile, Aqua merely acknowledged with a curt nod.
Poised to execute their deadly combination attack, Ventus and Thorian released their abilities upon the advancing humans. The nimble assassin, however, swiftly responded to the imminent threat, launching himself skywards and allowing the searing wave to consume the assassins and warriors trailing behind him. A smug grin spread across his face as he falsely believed he had deftly evaded a fiery demise. But his self-congratulatory moment was short-lived when Aqua unleased his spell.
Aqua's Triple Jet Stream slammed into the assassin before he had the chance to touch down, riddling his body with countless perforations. The force of the water mage's devastating spell catapulted the lifeless body back into the blaze, incinerating it along with the rest of his comrades.
But this lethal display did little to quell the fervor of the frenzied humans. It was as if their sole focus had narrowed down to slaughtering Thorian and his kobold kin, and they seemed willing to sacrifice their lives a thousand times over to achieve that brutal objective.
Thousands of corrupted souls. Thorian cast a solemn gaze upon the surge of humans before him. The surrounding forest had succumbed to the blaze, the rising flames only serving to amplify the pandemonium they had unleashed. Whoever accepted that quest will become a truly dangerous figure. I can’t even imagine the rewards for corrupting so many.
While their actions appeared unhinged, the humans weren't entirely bereft of strategy. They were hell-bent on taking down Thorian, but they understood that a blind pursuit would yield no results. Consequently, their mages began to hurl fireballs, igniting the surrounding forest. Their reasoning was elementary: Thorian wouldn't be able to evade them if there were no escape routes left to exploit.
This is insanity.
With a click of his tongue, Thorian turned to his two companions, "We head to Forlune's spot."
At his directive, the group deftly altered their trajectory. Their direwolves, utilizing Wind Leap, leapt over the raging flames, their agile forms weaving through the inferno. Meanwhile, the humans frantically sought any possible path, some even braving the fire's wrath directly, only to swiftly realize that they, unfortunately, lacked any form of flame resistance.
Madness…
By this stage, the ranks of the humans had noticeably diminished. Despite their initial strength in the thousands, the ones relentlessly pursuing Thorian had dwindled to mere hundreds. Smoke and soot choked the air, making each breath a laborious endeavor. However, this suffocating atmosphere served only to underscore the dire tragedy unfolding before Thorian's eyes.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Whoever is behind this is definitely ruthless. Though I’m in no position to judge them.
In a peculiar way, Thorian felt a sense of elation. The opportunity to have so many humans served to him on a silver platter was not a situation he had foreseen. His only quandary was that each corrupted soul he extinguished, inadvertently, would only serve to augment the power of the mastermind orchestrating this chaos.
And you dared to mess with what’s mine. If anything unbecoming happened to Nox, I will take my sweet time stripping you of your limbs.
"King, your expression is... scary..."
Ventus's voice pulled Thorian back from his ruminations. His hand moved to touch his own face, registering the petrifying grin that had taken root there.
"We're almost at our destination," Aqua announced, steering everyone's attention ahead. In the distance, a large rocky outcrop became visible, the very location where Thorian had positioned Forlune and his unit.
After bypassing the predetermined ambush point, Thorian and his companions halted several dozen meters away, poised and patient.
They dispatched the first wave of overzealous humans with relative ease. It was only when the area began to teem with increasingly frenzied humans, that Thorian finally signaled the next phase of their plan.
"Now!"
Upon Thorian's command, the silver-furred warriors unleashed a deafening roar that resonated through the ranks of the surrounding humans, stunning them into stillness.
Without the need for verbal communication, Thorian and Ventus once again unleashed their synergistic assault, the frontlines of humans succumbing to the searing inferno. Simultaneously, Forlune and his men surged forward, eager to reap the spoils of their well-planned stratagem.
Level up!
Gazing at the notification before him, a satisfied smile traced its way onto Thorian's lips. Humans surprisingly give a good amount of experience points.
“Harald, go have your fun.” Thorian dismounted his companion's back.
Upon receiving Thorian's telepathic message, the towering direwolf offered a toothy grin, "I had started to lose hope of hearing those words."
Having been given free rein, Harald bared a feral grin and revealed his true form. A blinding light engulfed him as his already imposing body swelled further in size, his dark fur gaining blazing red tips. His eyes gleamed with a golden hue as he launched towards the onslaught of humans in a powerful leap. Each swipe of his colossal paw claimed numerous human lives. His unrestrained onslaught showed no prejudice - whether child or elderly woman, flesh was torn, bones were shattered, and blood was shed indiscriminately. Indeed, in the face of death, all were deemed equal.
Aqua and Ventus's direwolves also joined their king in the fray, overwhelming their adversaries with brute force. Simultaneously, the kobolds under Forlune's command surged forward, cutting a path through enemy ranks with their superior strength and skills. All the while, Thorian, Ventus, and Aqua offered devastating long-range support with their potent spells.
Amidst the chaos of the human ranks, a heavily armored man wielding twin axes caught Thorian's attention. His eyes, wild with fervor, held a singular desire — to slay Thorian.
"Monster King!" He bellowed above the clamor of battle. “I will kill you! I will kill you and I will level up so much no one will stop me!”
With surprising agility for a man of his size, he charged towards Thorian, his axes primed for a lethal blow. A powerful blue glow enveloped his weapons, amplifying the impending attack.
As the human fixed his sights on Thorian, Forlune positioned himself in the man's path, declaring, "You'll have to contend with me first."
Caught off guard, the human had no time to respond. He emitted a raw, guttural war cry and swung both axes at Forlune's chest with all his might.
Clank!
The sound of steel against steel echoed across the battlefield as the human's assault was thwarted. His axes slipped from his grasp, his arms trembling from the powerful collision with Forlune's golden armor.
Forlune's chestplate, on the other hand, remained unscathed, shimmering as brightly as the day Ventus had bestowed it upon him.
After a beat, the human warrior erupted into a horrendous scream as a bloody gash abruptly appeared across his chest, spewing forth a torrent of blood. Putting an end to the man's agony, Forlune decapitated him, his head separated from his body with a swift cleave.
The battle continued to unfold predictably. Given their clear dominance, Thorian dispatched one of the newer kobloids to notify Lapis and his unit, so they too could partake in the skirmish. This was a prime opportunity to increase their human kill count for the quest, and Thorian wasn't about to deprive them of it.
Time marched on as the kobolds and direwolves wrought havoc upon the humans. The disparity in power was simply too vast. Even on the rare occasion a kobold or direwolf sustained injury, priests were at hand to promptly administer healing.
The kobloids, however, had fewer opportunities to engage in the combat. While those who had chosen the paths of priests or magi were able to provide support from a distance, sending the assassins or warriors into the fray was tantamount to issuing them a death warrant. In their frenzied state, the humans would not have shown any mercy. Consequently, Thorian commanded them to hold back, instructing them to only strike when a clear opportunity arose.
By the hour's end, the battlefield was strewn with hundreds of human corpses, surrounded by the raging, consuming flames of the forest. Despite Aqua's valiant attempts to halt the fire's spread with his water spells, they did little to quench the ferocity of the inferno.