Chương 63: An old enemy

The swarm of bats was thin now. A minute ago, it was impossible to see through them to the roof of the mine, but now it had been reduced to a gentle stream of stragglers. Small, old and injured bats remained behind the rest of them. The creature stood upright, just in front of the broken doorway. Its humanoid legs were long and skinny and held up a broad, muscular torso. It was flaring out its four leathery wings and had its arms raised above its shoulders, demonstrating its dagger-like talons.

The beast towered over them. Its arms alone were almost the length of Aaron's entire body. It seemed to have grown larger since they saw it up close on the farm. Perhaps Selezar had augmented it. It opened its mouth wide and hissed at them, spraying goopy clumps of saliva over the floor. Amongst its many sharp teeth, two fangs poked out about the size of Paige's sabre. It clicked at them and darted its head around the pit, as if identifying each person. This was a sure display of intimidation. And it was working.

The beast looked like it could decapitate one of the men with its long arms from the other side of the pit. The three remaining guards charged. They were clad in heavy plate, so they moved in cumbersome, exaggerated steps. They each had a shortsword drawn and ready. Leaping into the air, the creature flapped its wings so fast that they merged together into a singular blur. Rock dust from the floor whipped up around it, swirling in a tornado. Stones beneath it rattled with the deep droning of its wings.

The recursive echoes of its beating wings sounded like a near-infinite layer of sound. It was disorientating and painful to listen to. Even the wooden walls around the pit started to shake and vibrate with its frequency. The twisted bat pulled its lanky legs back, bending them up to its chest and spread its claws out. The closest guard gripped his sword with two hands and slashed with a heavy overhead swing. The creature shot out one leg, like a mantis.

The blade ricocheted back against the force of the talons, staggering the man backwards as he held the sword overhead. As the man struggled for balance, the beast swiped with its arm in a long arcing sweep. The second guard pulled the first backwards, just out of reach of the talons, which would have sliced straight into his neck, causing certain death. It quickly followed up with a fast swipe with the opposite arm. The metal chestplate screeched as the talons scraped along it.

Aaron couldn't see if it did any damage from behind, but he guessed it didn't penetrate the armour as the man was still breathing and fighting. The beast unleashed a flurry of blows, alternating between arms. The guard expertly deflected each blow with the side of his sword. The metal clanged, and he lost ground with each block. He blocked for what felt like an age until he slipped up. With a forceful blow from the side, the beast landed its claws into the man's gauntlet. The talons impaled deeply into the metal.

The man yelled in pain as it tried to pull away, but its claws were stuck. The third guard ran in from the side and slammed his blade down with full force onto the creature's outstretched arm. It unleashed an ear-piercing screech as the blade hit. The force pushed its arm downwards, dragging the stuck guard to the floor with it. He dropped his sword and braced against the floor with his free hand. He kept shaking his left arm around, but it remained firmly attached to the beast.

The buzzing intensified, and the creature climbed into the air. The guard shouted and kicked as he was pulled up with it. Thomas was no help to his men. He was cowering up against the wall just out of arm's reach of Paige. The remaining two guards grabbed the man's legs and pulled hard. Their armour creaked with the strain. But it was futile. Struggling under the added weight, the creature stopped mid-air. The droning of its wings intensified so much that Aaron felt it in his ribs.

It continued to rise slowly, pulling all three men with it. The hand stuck on the guard dragged down by its side, tilting it slightly off balance. But it continued to fly up. It thrashed with its feet, slicing at the attached guard. The first two scrapes made a toe-clenching, high-pitched noise as it scratched through the breastplate, but it was the third one which finally drew blood. The man wriggled and writhed. He tried to reach his opposite hand up to somehow unfasten his gauntlet, but it was all in vain.

Blood poured down his armour and dripped onto the hands of the men below, whose feet were now floating off the ground. They let go before they too were carried off, or struck with the talons on the beast's feet. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The sudden easing of weight sent the creature shooting upwards. It corrected itself by beating its wings upwards, but the momentum sent the bleeding guard catapulting into the air.

The beast whipped its claws away at the last second, releasing the man in full swing. He was limp in the air like a sack of beets as he flew over the wall. A loud thud echoed over the droning of its wings a few heartbeats later. If the bleeding didn't kill him, the landing would surely have finished him off.

"What are you doing? Help us," Thomas shouted as he cowered against the wall. It was typical of a nobleborn to let his grunts do all the work, but it was even more pathetic than Aaron imagined seeing it first-hand. Paige let out a furious sound best described as a growl as she turned her saber onto Thomas.

"Wait," Aaron shouted, "if you kill him, we have a blood debt with the Umbers on our hands. Thomas smirked and puffed his chest out. He seemed to enjoy taunting the enraged girl in front of him. She responded by launching a powerful kick directly into his crotch. He fell to his knees, gasped and started to tear up. Aaron gritted his teeth and tightened his legs together at the sight of it.

"I doubt he will be needing those by the looks of his disgusting face," Paige responded, smiling back at Thomas.

"Who says we killed him anyways. There is a giant enraged bat thing to do that for us. Harrold will never know the difference." A loud thump startled Aaron. Thomas hammered a fist into the floor, leaving a sizable dent behind.

"You're going to regret that," he said quietly under his breath as he knelt down on the floor, covering his groin.

"Help Paige with the brat. I'll help the guards take down the beast," Giddeon said. Aaron had no argument against that. Thomas had lied to him and betrayed him back in the city. He lured him into the Umber estate with the promise of helping his captured son and looked more than happy to stab him in the back for his own gain. He wasn't worth the wretched air in the cave. Paige lunged forwards with her sabre and threw a precise stab towards Thomas' head.

He raised his plate-armoured hand and deflected the blow, redirecting the sabre. The force of Thomas' hit pressed the blade deep into the wall. Paige tried to pull, but it was stuck. She raised a foot up in an attempt to dislodge the sabre. Thomas, who had finally managed to climb to his feet, ran forward and barged into Paige with his shoulder. She toppled over and fell into Aaron, who caught her arm before she smacked her head on the floor.

Paige sat on the floor with her hands behind her and shuffled backwards before Thomas could strike again. The noble's son drew his sword and pointed it at Paige. Paige scrambled back as he raised his sword. Aaron jumped in front of the girl and stared Thomas in the eyes.

"You can't kill me, you need me," Aaron said. Paige had shuffled back and stood up, but she was unarmed.

"But nothing is stopping me from killing you." Aaron drew his dagger. He knew full well that if he killed Thomas, Harrold would come for blood, but intimidation was the aim and by the look in the man's eyes, it was working. Aaron crouched low, holding the dagger out front. He stayed light on his toes, ready to evade. Thomas clearly had some sort of magical strength enhancement, but he was slow. His bone dagger was made from a Mana Hound talon. One cut would corrupt the wound and could be lethal.

Thomas grunted, but didn't resheath his sword. Paige moved next to him, completely unarmed, but wind was flowing around her fists. The dust and stones on the floor between them still vibrated and rattled with the droning wings. Aaron lunged, aiming for the gap under Thomas' breastplate. He punched downwards with the hilt of his sword. The pain of metal smashing made his hand spasm almost enough to drop the dagger.

He lurched forwards as the dagger missed and looked up to see his metal-coated fist flying towards his face. Aaron quickly focused his mana into his head, reinforcing his skin. He had accidentally used this trick once before in the city, but this time it was much more deliberate. His mana interlocked and layered through the skin on his face, hardening it like steel. The spell went off just in time. Thomas' fist smashed him straight in the face, on the bridge of his nose.

The force should have broken it, but Aaron felt no pain, just the strength of the blow pushing his head up. The metal gauntlet crunched, and a couple of the small metal plates covering his knuckles dented and dropped off onto the floor, clanging like dropped coins.

"What the?" he said as he shook his hand off. The impact looked painful, but perhaps not so much to a magically enhanced individual. Paige caught him off guard with a focused wind blast to the face. It had picked up some grit from the floor, blasting dirt into his eyes. He blinked rapidly and held his arm over his eyes, shielding it from the barrage of wind spirits firing his way. With his free hand, he flailed his sword around, arcing it from side to side.

Aaron and Paige stepped back, avoiding the blind strikes with ease. As he swiped with a forceful backhand, Aaron grabbed the back of his sword hand and sliced down the back of his elbow with his dagger. It glided through the gap between metal plates and came off dripping with blood. Thomas yelled in pain.

"This blade is made from a Mana Hound talon. If you don't get it exposed to bright light quickly, it will spread corruption in your body and likely kill you. Call a truce and drop your sword, and we will help you," Aaron yelled.

"I'm not a fool!" He shouted, stabbing his sword forwards towards them. A combination of Paige's wind and a quick jump to the side made the blade miss its mark, but Paige was tiring. Aaron grabbed Thomas' exposed hand as he missed the stab and cast Scourge Mana directly into him. His blade arm instantly lowered, and his entire body slumped to the floor under his own weight. He clearly wasn't expecting the sudden loss of strength. Aaron only maintained the spell for a couple of heartbeats.

It drained his mana rapidly and made his vision go blurry. Thomas was likely a Journeyman or higher based on the difficulty of disrupting his magic. Steadying himself by placing a hand on Paige's shoulder, Aaron looked at the man lying in a heap on the floor. He was screaming in agony and holding his arm. Thomas threw his sword to the side.

"Okay, you win. What did you do to me, you bastard? Get rid of this pain fast!" A deafening shout startled Aaron before he could respond. He looked over towards the beast, who was making short work of the remaining two men. But the shouting wasn't coming from there. It was coming from Tim. He was standing seven feet tall with claws stretched out, walking towards the bat.