Chương 18: Chapter 13 - The Enrashi

The Enrashi shambled forward on four lanky limbs, with long grasping arms plucking at the grasses before them. As they climbed the hillside, they ran their gangly hands through each of the spaces someone could hide in, parting branches and turning over stones as they wove between each other in a pattern that was obviously there, but Karina couldn't quite track.

On each of their sides, stark against their wrinkled and sagging oily skin, were a set of thin, curved blades that looked as if they'd been carved from bone. From their position on the hill behind the Enrashi—the one that they'd just finished searching—Alyssia and Karina could see their shaking movements as they scanned the landscape. They could also see that there was at least five Enrashi in the group, not the 'around three' that Volrick had originally reported.

Ever since Alyssia had pointed the extras out, she'd remained silent, watching them and occasionally glancing to the East and West to ensure they weren't missing any. Several times during Enrashi's thorough search of the hillside before them, one of the demons would turn back and scan every direction as Alyssia had been. On the third time one of them looked back, burning text interposed itself on Karina's vision.

[Fate Progressed - Basic Stealth: 3/10] Volrick, who had been scouting ahead to ensure there weren't any demons between their current perch and the Enrashi they could see, returned, crouched low to the ground. His footsteps were supernaturally quiet and he didn't cast a shadow.

"Just the five," he said.

"Good." Alyssia nodded to Karina as Volrick turned back and began to lead them down the hillside, tracing a line between covered alcoves and rows of trees. While Karina's feet kept slipping in the sand as she kept low behind him, he was able to dart between openings with phenomenal grace for someone standing at half height. As they slipped down towards the Enrashi, the roots crossed the thin sandy paths between trees like gnarled steps, offering some sort of purchase on the sand.

Finally at the bottom of the hill, in the 'valley' between the two where the sand grew wet and the needles piled up in large, decomposing clumps, Volrick motioned for them to stop, holding up a single finger. Alyssia turned to Karina.

"Remember the plan?" Karina nodded. Enrashi were quick, but they weren't built to take a hit, which meant it would be better if they got the drop on three at once. Even putting Karina in the center of the formation, that made it so she'd be alone again.

"Good," Volrik said at a whisper, "because no more talking after this. It breaks the spell." The ash skinned man closed his eyes for a moment, his black hair falling down over his face and the tattoos on the side of his scalp nearly draining in colour. After three counts, he exhaled and silence spread out alongside his breath, coiling around Karina's feet and tracing its way up her body until it finally slithered up her neck.

She always knew that you could feel silence in a room, but she'd never expected it to be as heavy as it was sitting in her mouth as is slipped between her lips. Volrick opened his eyes and offered a thumbs up, before taking Karina by the shoulder, and pointing for her to keep moving straight forward, the pointing for Alyssia to take the right. Then, he vanished to the left, climbing up ridge and into a small cluster of trees.

The 'path' up the centre of the hill was the clearest, and Karina kept her footing by following in the Enrashi's footsteps when she could. Between tree cover and the large rocks dotting the hillside, she slipped along the open patches of sand, matching the demon's footing. Everything was noiseless, including the wind. At least until she heard it. The Enrashi pulled on a branch ahead of her, yanking to part the tree and insert its long, tentacle-like eyestalk into the core of the tree.

It stood there for a moment, its head buried in the branches before it made a strange chittering sound and shuddered, then pulled its head out of and paused, looking behind itself as Karina was pressed against one of the trees it had just been searching. She swallowed. It's gaze passed over her and continued down the hillside.

[Fate Progressed - Basic Stealth: 5/10]] Karina took a deep breath and slipped out from behind the tree, her heels digging into the sandy hillside as she kept low, almost crawling forward behind the Enrashi, which had turned its attention to crawling on top of a rock to check the other side of it, reaching around the rough surface with its over-long twisting arms. Something shifted to Karina's left, just a little further up the hill. A second Enrashi.

If she hadn't known it would break Volrick's enchantment, she would have sworn. The goal had been clear: they needed to prevent any of the Enrashi from getting away, and with how close these two were to each other, there was no way that Karina could hit one without the other noticing. If it ran, she would need to chase after it down the sandy hillside and pray she kept her footing. If the second ran at her with those bone knives… Well that came with its own set of problems.

At least if she made it run directly to the left, it should find Alyssia. She fell back, leaving more space between herself and the Enrashi she'd been stalking as it moved onto the rock and scuttled forward towards the next tree, a thick, half dead thing with brittle, dry branches on the bottom. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Kairna glanced over to the other Enrashi, it had its head in the tall grasses, searching for anything in there.

It was the perfect opportunity and— The second Enrashi pounced forward, diving into the grass before one of its hands rose high, with a struggling gasping rabbit caught in its claw-like fingers. The small thing kicked and struggled against the demon's grip, squeaking as it punched harder and harder. Snap. The rabbit fell limp in the Enrashi's extended arm, and the one in front of Karina turned to see what all the commotion was about, pulling its head out from within the tree for a brief moment.

Karina slipped forward, reciting the words in her head. Pyrek Evet Gau In the same thought that summoned the flame, she drew the heat within her palm to snap to it, connecting her pyrokinesis to the spell itself. Immediately, as her mind wrapped around the flame, she felt the charred burn crawl up her forearm, extending to her elbow as she took control of the immediately swelling fire. The sudden light caused the Enrachi to turn around, but Karina had already thrown the spell.

Flame lashed outward, looking for a target and the first tendril snapped around the Enrashi's extended neck. Upon contact, the rest of the Ember Call snapped forward, careering toward the Enrashi as it screamed Flame exploded across the hillside as the core hit the demon, driving into its neck and erupting into a massive torrent of fire that tried to race up the hillside. Karina pulled her hands back, snapping on the reins and yanking the fire back by its 'throat' as the burns spread further up her arm.

Rather than scattering, the fire wheeled itself around, wrapping around the dry branches of the tree and snapping around the Enrashi's limbs like coils of rope. The demon flailed and screamed as the fire ignited the oil on its skin, black smoke billowing out. To Karina's left, the second Enrashi growled, turning its long stalked head to face her. Its single, globe-like eye narrowed. She could just summon more fire and then she could have them both.

She could— Before Karina could cast another spell, the Enrashi's twisting limb had already snapped to its side and lashed out forward, tearing its bone-like blade free and flinging it at Karina with shocking speed. The blade flew end over end toward her and while she tried to dive out of the way, out of instinct she pulled her arms in the way of her face. Just before the blade would have flown past her, the Enrasi swung its head to the right and it curved toward Karina as she fell.

She winced as the white flashed toward her. The blade caught on the hardened skin of her arms and cut into one of the bandages, before clattering off to the side. The Enrashi straightened up, pulling its head back and blinking twice. The other one kept screaming. Rather than casting another spell, Karina closed her fist, wrapping her mind around the fire that had begun to hungrily consume the tree.

Instead of tearing it in a direction or trying to throw it, she simply thought of the Enrashi and told the fire to go fetch. The flame split itself down the middle, one half consuming the tree while the other raced along the sand toward the its new target. The surrounding grass ignited first, the dry stalks exploding into a roaring flame around the demon as it drew its second blade, trapping it in a ring of fire. Or at least Karina thought it was trapped.

The Enrashi leapt into the air, blade held high as it soared toward Karina. She scrambled off the ground, backpedaling in the sand just before the dagger came down, plunging into the dirt where she had just been. Soil sprayed up as the fire roared behind the demon, distracted by the dry grass in its hunger. The crackle of fire swelled, overwhelming the dying whimpers of the first Enrashi. Ash and cinders caught on the wind, flying between Karina and the second demon as it swapped the blade between hands.

It glanced over its shoulder, looking down hill, away from the fire. Then took off, dashing away, its lanky arms flailing behind it as it sprinted on all four legs. Karina went to call her swelling fire, but hesitated, it wasn't going to be fast enough. Even if it wasn't accurate, she just needed to cut off the Enrashi's retreat. She let go of the fire, allowing it to burn as it pleased. Pyrek Evet Gau Another core appeared in Karina's hand, flickering and swelling into that same billowing flame.

When she connected her heat to it, she changed how the throw felt. Rather than lashing out with a single line of fire that searched for its target, she spun the flames around themselves smoothing them around the core into a single ball. Two steps as wind up, and Karina hucked the flame as far as she could. The bald core of fire careened through the sky like a meteor, catching up to and then passing the Enrashi, flying most of the way down the hill into the valley below and exploding on impact.

Sand, pine needles and twigs prayed outward as the fire erupted in the wet mud, spreading out with a billowing plume of steam and stretching to find everything it could burn. Barely able to hold onto the fire from that distance, Karina raised her arms, calling the fire higher and higher, raising it like a curtain high toward the sky. The deep cracks of the charring skin on her legs snagged on the fabric of her trousers.

Slowing, the Enrashi turned back up the hill to stare at Karina, and then levelled its blade at her instead of trying to run again. Good. It was going to try to kill her. Paradoxically, that was the plan. The demon charged up the hill, scampering across the sand on its four spindly legs and occasionally using its free hands to grasp at the ground and pull itself toward Karina even faster. It held the blade out to its side, wide and waiting to slash across her.

Karina called the fire from the original tree back to her, drawing it back across the space between them like a curtain. The Enrashi didn't stop, even as the flames caught on its oily skin, slashing just before it reached her. She ducked to the side. The blade caught on Karina's knee, cutting the fabric, but once again grinding to a halt against her hardened skin. She lashed out at the Enrashi, catching its twisting stalk just below the eye with a quick right hook.

[Fate Progressed - Basic Hand to Hand 2/10] The Enrashi blinked, seemingly as confused by the strike as Karina was. In a battle of demon versus pyromancer, she'd just started boxing. She took that opening, coming in with the left hand while kicking the Enrashi's blade away with the right. Before she hit with her open palm Karina echoed the words in her head. Pyrek Evet Gau The core appeared in her hand only to immediately explode as she slammed it into the Enrashi's face.

Fire billowed out in every direction, coiling around Karina and the demon before she latched onto the flames, licking her and forcing them all to fight on her behalf. The Enrashi crumpled from the original blow and never stood up, flailing its wildly long limbs as it rolled on the ground, with unleashed fire Cooking it until it stopped struggling and dropped its knife into the blackened sand below it.

[ENRASHI VANQUISHED] [EXPERIENCE TITHE PAID] [REMAINING EXPERIENCE ADDED] Karina took a deep breath and forced the fires around her to cool before they spread any further while the Enrashi's corpse, like the Volatu's before it, faded away into ash. She looked up the hill.

"Alyssia?"

"Here."

"Did any get away?" Branches shifted to her left. Volrick stepped through, looking from the burned tree to the steaming ground below.

"Not unless you missed one." Karina glanced back at the two patches of blackened sand. Something pale lay in the nearer one. One of the knives. In fact, as she looked around, it was clear that all of them had been left behind. Volrick stared at the smoldering tree and the smoking patch of grass Karina had left as an aftermath before nodding quietly to himself.

"We need to keep moving," he said. His tone was serious enough that nobody argued.