Chương 61: The Chieftain

The hound desperately struggled to pull its trapped arm free. The bone-like protrusion pierced his gut as he held it still in an iron grip. Wretch's tail wrapped around the midsection of the Blessed hound as it yelped and struggled to rip free the bone-like protrusion jammed into his stomach. Wretch's tattered shirt moved and a multitude of human arms forced their way through the torn fabric with the noise of ripping skin. The form of Milley, tireless gatherer, grew from his body.

A writhing mass of human hands clutching at the screaming hound. Grasping fingers smothered the creature, ripping out swathes of fur, twisting joints and tearing ears free. From within the limbs came a piercing shriek of agony and as Wretch hoisted the creature above his head, it was finally his time to laugh. His many arms strained. With a wet rip and a wail, the hound split in two. Blood cascading over him into his open mouth.

Bwiri, spawn of Vishnii, burned into shape among the growing number of creatures around his dim flame. More hounds welled forward, driven into frenzy by the death of the Blessed beast. Wretch held a hand to his gut, stopping his intestine from falling out before he could regenerate it. Edmund stepped past him, giving him a quick nod as he raised his shield. With a thunderous boom, the first of the charging hounds flew backwards.

"Ten minutes! Hold on, persevere!" Edmund shouted. A heavy hand clutched his shoulder.

"You killed it before I got back," Elenya said as she stepped past him.

"Take a breather," she continued. The only trace of the wound on her back was a tear in her clothes and a scar.

"I can still go," Wretch said, but Astrid had already grabbed his wrist and forcefully dragged him away. The healer forced him to turn his head away from the carnage. She clutched both his cheeks and warm, gentle flame healed the pulsing wound in his stomach. Blood covered his upper body to the point that his hair was slick against his skull, staining the healer's hands.

"Ten minutes, Wretchy. Just ten more," she said with a look of shock. The soldiers assigned to protect her spared them wide-eyed glances as they reloaded crossbows at a frantic pace. Melissa however, the one left behind by the major, was staring at him in awe, frozen in place.

"There, all fixed up! Now go," she said, releasing him and adjusting her hat.

"As long as nothing above Fireling shows up, we'll hold," he called and turned around, darting towards the action. Elenya and Edmund were adding layers of severed hounds to the ever-growing pile under a continuous rain of bolts and spear pokes. A third barricade was quickly forming from the corpses. Wretch switched his grip on the Blinking Blade. He had little flame remaining, so now it was his turn to zip around Elenya as she devastated their opposition.

He whirled into movement, emulating the pattern of the Blessed hound that now lay split on the stone. He cut into a screeching dog that stepped over its dead comrades. The cut wasn't deep enough, and he dodged back under a swipe from a crude sword. The newborns were diminishing, leaving the larger, more battle-hardened hounds. Elenya took his place and cleaved its head.

"Can I borrow some flame?" Wretch asked. Elenya didn't answer, moving in some kind of trance. Wretch dodged away from a pair of grasping claws.

"Elenya!" A hand clutched over his head and flame flushed through him. He grabbed onto a form as a rusty blade whistled towards him. His eyes lit with fire and the bone on his forearm burst through his skin, extending to two blades in moments. The form was easy, merely an extension of bone. He deflected the blow with one bladed arm and cut open the stomach with his other. He sidestepped another strike and let his movement lead into the next cut.

He would have liked more practice with the form, but now that they were there, he wasn't wasting the flame switching again.

"Let's see what you can do," he thought. He pushed himself harder. Faster. Whirling the blades to cut away fingers and snouts. Despite the best efforts of the hunters to contain the aggression, the barricades were getting battered by the hounds. Piles of corpses were covering the spears and more and more of them engaged the soldiers on the other side. The few soldiers that fell quickly rose, crawling forward mid-transformation with fur bursting out of their skin.

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"Five minutes! Hold on!" Edmund shouted, blasting a group of hounds backwards. The ground trembled.

"The train! The ground is shaking from the train!" Melissa shouted.

"Trains don't do that," Astrid answered, a string of anxiety growing taut in all of them. A slight pressure crept into the room as the ground shuddered again. A moment later, a silhouette appeared at the shattered gate. It was a hairy dog, crouched motionless in the opening. It was small, draped in thick matted fur flowing like a veil down to the floor, hiding its entire form except for a long snout. The hounds froze, casting wide-eyed glances back towards the door.

Whining softly and lowering their bodies in submission. Wretch cut down a distracted hound. They didn't do that for the Fireling...

"What is that thing?" Elenya said while putting her hand on his shoulder to send over yet another dose of flame. Wretch felt a knot in his stomach and a sense of pressure looking at the hairy creature, as if every breath came with some resistance.

"It's dangerous," he said.

"Really dangerous." A long tongue slid out of its snout, licking its muzzle. Then a dozen fiery eyes lit within its fur. The creature grew, plumes of hair flowing into existence as more rolling eyes opened. The snout extended and two thin arms emerged carefully from the fur to the sound of tearing muscles and snapping joints. It grew as large as the frame of the gate. The hall was quiet. Neither hound nor human daring to even take a breath. A name washed over him as the light dimmed. Vishnii, Eyes in the Mist.

The creature's throat let out a guttural sound, like human speech but not quite. The hall exploded. The hounds threw themselves forward in a panic. Civilians screamed, clutching their eyes.

"Just five more minutes, damn it," Edmund shouted into the air as he cut down a raging hound. The creature's many fiery eyes rolled in their sockets. Then they all froze, fixed on the hunters. Wretch shuddered.

"It's coming." Mist burst out of the creature's fur. A breeze swept it away and Vishnii was gone. Wretch stabbed a mad hound and swiveled his head around. Astrid looked at him with a questioning expression. Behind her, the mist gathered, condensed into a limb. A hairy arm with claws like curved sabres.

"LOOK OUT!" Wretch screamed. They didn't even have time to respond. The claw swept down toward the healer and her guard, cutting through bone and sending bodies flying with a crack. Wretch moved without thinking, dashing towards the reforming horror. Burning eyes snapped open in the mist as Vishnii took form again. He skidded to a halt. Melissa was lying on the floor, deep gashes splitting her back straight through. She was clutching a smaller figure. Blond hair spread beneath her.

She'd been the only one to react in time. Melissa slumped to the side, revealing Astrid's blood-covered body beneath. Ribs shattered, left arm mangled. The soldier's exposed lungs drew one final breath as she struggled to look at him with glassy eyes. If she tried to speak, Wretch didn't know. He didn't even have the time to listen. A clawed arm whistled towards him through the mist. He couldn't dodge and save his comrade. He held on to a form in his mind, whispering to the flame at a frantic pace.

I will have to block it. His arm twitched and grew, thick plates bursting through the black skin, transforming into a giant crab claw. Too fast... A cleaver with the flat side up extended over his claw, a raised shield beside it. The impact hit like the impact of a steam cannon. Mist blasted outwards as the claw slammed into the shield, blade and chitin. Both he, Elenya and Edmund strained under the weight while Astrid gasped for air beneath their feet. A boom radiated from Edmund's shield and the monster recoiled.

"I will take her wounds. You two keep it distracted," Edmund said with a strain in his voice.

"Go!" Wretch and Elenya responded in unison. Vishnii fully emerged, nearly scraping the ceiling despite its hunched form. Edmund scooped up Astrid and sprinted towards the civilians watching them with horror. The creature, standing four meters tall and covered in long slick fur with a dozen spinning eyes spread over its body, let out an ear-piercing howl. Wretch gulped and forced his crab-like arm back to normal. It was shaking. One of the chieftains. A Blaze then.

It launched towards them in a fit of rage and fury, throwing out sharp claws in a storm. Wretch and Elenya could do nothing but dodge as the bodies underneath them were shredded. Each strike had enough speed and strength to crack the stone beneath them. Even if he moved in the right direction, blade-like claws were only a hair's breadth away. The hounds surged behind them, but he couldn't look away. Vishnii swept forward, grinning through its long snout as its body dissolved into mist once more.

Wretch burned the Blinking Blade black into his palm and hurled it.

"Throw the cleaver! Don't let it move!" Wretch shouted as two massive arms grew out of his back and he launched himself like a slingshot towards the massive hound. The cleaver came into view above him and he caught it midair with a newly formed hand. He poured flame into the strike, boosting its speed, pain ripping across his back as a wound formed as payment. The cleaver slashed down into still solid fur. That was all he saw before a claw burst from the mist. Damn. It can switch fast.

Then the world became a whirlpool of gray shades and pain.