The Gamer's POV-Chapter 245: Heralds of Madness [5]

Aika ran as fast as she could while keeping her attention split between her countdown timer and the Herald chasing her brazenly from behind. To her left and right, two ravens flew alongside her, weaving through the jagged spires. She was sharing her vision with them, and through their eyes, she could see that the creature chasing her was already right on her heels. Since she still had a few seconds left on her timer, she had no choice but to physically dodge the creature’s reaching hands. In the brief second, she made up her mind to attempt the riskiest move yet, which was to take this creature down in close combat.

Veering sharply to the side, she narrowly avoided a swipe that smashed the stone where she had been a moment before. In the same breath, she rolled to dodge another attack from another arm, and while she was still moving, she ran a hand along her katana, causing the blade to ignite with flames. Then, as she narrowly avoided another lunging strike, she spun and lashed out with a horizontal cut on the creature’s arms. Without stopping, she rolled away just as another hand slammed down.

The creature began a frantic series of stomping movements, jumping up and down to crush her, but she kept dodging in a quick roll and slicing at any limb that got too close.

One hand almost touched her, causing her to panic. She scrambled to find an opening, then three hands came at her at once. She was trapped and couldn’t dodge, but luckily, her timer ended right at that moment. The hands smashed into a bunch of feathers instead of her. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Then, in the next second, Aika reappeared in the air behind the creature, holding both her katana and wakizashi. She landed on the creature’s shoulders, and before the creature could react, she plunged both blades deep into the eyes of the face on the back, which looked like that of a baby.

After that, she kicked off the creature’s shoulders with both legs to propel herself backward before the creature could catch her. As she drifted through the air, she spread her hands wide, spun once, and then landed hard on the ground some meters away.

She hit the stone in a low crouch, using one hand to brace herself against the floor to absorb the impact. Then quickly, she looked up at the creature, which seemed to be in agony as it tried to claw the blades from its eyes.

At that moment, Aika’s blue eyes went dark and the flames on both blades exploded both outward and inward. In the seconds that followed, the creature swayed, shook its head violently, and slammed its massive body into a nearby spire before finally falling to the ground dead.

Now breathing heavily and soaked with sweat, Aika was about to rise when her eyes suddenly widened. Through the eyes of one of her ravens, she could see that the last of the Heralds had jumped from a distant spire to the one right behind her, and it was now leaping straight at her.

It was so fast... and so sudden that her brain didn’t even have time to think of a way out. The vast shadow fell over her, and by the time she had turned back, the only thing she could see was one of the open hands, which was inches from reaching her face.

At that brief moment of despair, her form suddenly vanished and the creature grabbed nothing but a bunch of feathers.

’I’ve got you,’~ Cedric said, having used his skill to bring Aika back to his side.

She emerged from her dormant form, then stood beside him on the flat peak of the spire he was standing one. Clutching her knees, she panted as she tried to catch her breath and steady her heart, which was still racing from the near-miss.

’Gosh, for a minute there, I really thought I was a goner.’~~

’Well, I can’t have you being any crazier than you already are.’~ Cedric teased.

Aika frowned and shot him a side eye.

Ignoring her, Cedric began quickly writing something in the air with his index finger. Using his flames of decay, he traced the words quickly, leaving glowing trails of dark fire hanging in the space before him. When he was finished, he gave the message a small push, and it soared high into the air, enlarging until the letters were massive enough for everyone on the battlefield to see:

"There’s a total of seventeen more coming from the north and east."

...By now, the Herald that had attacked Aika was being handled by both Aurora and Celeste. In a matter of a few seconds, Aurora delivered the killing blow by sending a large sword into the neck of the creature. After that, both girls stood over the remains, still focused on the immediate area.

Since they could not exactly hear anything, Cedric sent two ravens to signal them. The birds dived down and circled low over the girls, drawing their eyes upward so they could see the flaming message written across the air.

When they saw it, they began to brace themselves. Aurora began taking steps into the air, walking as if on invisible stairs, until she was high enough to be level with the tips of the spires. She raised a hand, and a few more swords began to appear, joining the ones that were already floating around her. Finally, a massive axe as large as a siege engine took form behind her, humming with power.

As for Celeste, she leapt to a nearby spire and began scaling it in long leaps, reaching the top in seconds. Once she reached the peak, she took a look around.

Although they could not hear it yet, the ground began to rumble and stones began to vibrate. But since they were all now high enough, they could see the seventeen creatures approaching. They looked like horrifying spiders, scuttling and weaving through the spires as they rushed toward their position.

’This number should be enough to get us to meet our condition, ...right?’ Cedric thought as he watched them in tense anticipation.