Chapter 953: Chapter 953: Kiba’s trial (3)

"RAWWRRRR!!!"

Suddenly when Khiran was finishing the last of the camp’s alert system a mighty guttural roar reverberated through the camp, originating from within a hundred metres or so, too far for him to see clearly but close enough for him and the rest of his party to hear.

"Battle stations quickly!" As though unperturbed by the anger filled roar Eha stopped what she was doing and donned her battlefield commander persona. With staff in hand she started chanting while Nanuk and Lur picked up their gear.

Khiran abandoned the fringes of the camp running like a madman to the safety of his comrades.

"Your hammer." Nanuk handed him his weapon.

"Thanks lad." A moment later the party entered full combat mode, their eyes honing in on the origin of that imposing roar.

Trees rustled, bushes were trampled and the ground beneath their feet quaked as the forms of two larger than average frost drakes charged in their direction. Even at a distance it was plain to see that their expressions were laced with wrath and hatred, a sign that they would not stop their attacks until the targets of their hatred had been dealt with.

Possibilities and questions were abound in the minds of the adventurers, failing to understand how this situation came about.

"Did they follow us after our last hunt?" Asked Lur knowing that if they had witnessed what they did then their wrath was understandable but as far he was aware nothing was in the vicinity, nor did he or Eha pick up any signs of being followed.

"Blood, was it the blood but surely we would have noticed them before now?" Said Khiran while inspecting his equipment that sported no small amount of frost drake blood.

"No it can’t be that Eha would have called us out if that was the case." Nanuk being the baby of the group immediately denied Khiran’s possibility as his aunt was meticulous when it came to such things. The blood on his equipment had already been doused to minimise its scent.

"Enough, it doesn’t matter how they found us just get ready for an assault." Finishing up her chanting Eha scolded her useless teammates as rock spears formed around her and pointed towards the charging frost drakes.

"Same protocols as before, Nanuk pin down the left drake while we focus fire on the one on the right."

"Yes auntie."

"BOSS!!" Eha loudly corrected before firing four rock spears at the charging frost drakes.

"Sorry, yes boss." A chill running down his spine from her tone Nanuk quickly fixed his mistake before clanging his sword against his shield and loudly roaring like a beast at the top of his lungs. A red energy spread from his heart in response, covering his body, his sword, his shield and giving weight to his voice. What he just used was a skill that all tanks strive to learn [taunt].

The skill itself would invoke feelings of wrath and hatred within the chosen target, encouraging and sometimes even forcing them if they were weak enough to attack the user with abandon, narrowing their vision to see only the user and nothing else. An incredibly effective skill when used against bestial and low level intelligent monsters. It made predicting their moves even easier, but it wasn’t all positives. The targeted monster would be relentless in its attacks, conjuring up even greater strength than normal due to its heightened rage thus the user of [taunt] would have to endure great rigours. Thankfully Nanuk was more than capable, with good equipment and early almost mid C-rank strength holding down a mere frost drake for a few minutes was well within his skillset.

With the left drake taunted he moved away from the other three, leading the monster to a favourable terrain within the campsite, a place where its large size would limit its range of motion.

While the party may be surprised by the sudden attack they were not ill-prepared. Eha being the meticulous boss that she was had made them run multiple drills for occasions just like this so as to never be caught unprepared as an unprepared adventurer is a soon to be dead adventurer.

They moved seamlessly upon hearing Eha orders, Nanuk would endure against the left drake while Khiran would hold the other, Lur and Eha herself would then launch a vicious offensive, bringing down the right drake before Nanuk succumbed.

With rock spears crashing against hardened scales the battle had begun, the two drakes separating from one another as they charged at their foes. Enemies that had hunted their kin for days, never suffering a proper injury, taking advantage of their superior strength and number to basically toy with their lives. Even if Kiba hadn’t come to them they had been thinking about making a move although their venture would involve rallying multiple of their kin and perhaps even some of their neighbouring monsters to uproot this invasive cancer but as long as they were killed then they’d be satisfied either way.

"RAWWRRRR!!!" They let loose another roar as their armoured heads crashed into Nanuk’s solid shield and Khiran’s earth enhanced hammer -a buff quickly cast by Eha.

The resulting clash was explosive, the sound causing a ringing in the ears but safely endured. Nanuk was pushed back several steps, but the charge had been withstood whereas Khiran struck the drake’s temple causing it to veer off to the right where Lur’s bow was already aiming.

"[Piercing shot]" Energy wrapped around his arrow granting it additional speed and penetrative force.

Twang!

"Rahhhh!" The arrow landed in between the drake’s scales, piercing deep into its shoulder.

"[Mud floor]" before it even had time to reorientate itself from the two accurate blows to its temple and shoulder Eha cast a 3rd circle spell that altered the ground beneath it. The once firm ground was now squidgy, viscous and limiting its ability to move. It was already inflexible but now it was nothing more than a sitting duck to be chipped away at. Whenever it tried to leave the confines of the mud Khiran would whack it with his hammer sending it hurtling back.

The physical triumph that was the frost drake was now dead in the water, unable to escape being a punching bag at least for the most part. Angered by its inability to crush its hated foes it suddenly took in a deep breath, its chest rapidly expanding and giving off a white, blue glow.

"Breath incoming, [Shield of stone]" Eha shouted and like well-trained soldiers both Khiran and Lur moved behind her as she summoned a massive stone shield in front. There was always the choice to simply avoid the breath but that left some uncertainty, if you could safely tank it then why wouldn’t you.

"RAWWRRRR!!!" After a few moments the right drake let loose a mighty roar and a chilling beam of frost was fired from its mouth. A drake may not be able to fly, it may not be able to use magic, it may be clumsy in its movements and it may lack the intelligence found in dragons but there’s one thing it did have.....their breath attack.

The thick white, blue beam would instantly freeze and burn anything it touched, capable of causing serious injury even to those in the C-rank but that’s only if it touched you.

The beam landed dead centre on Eha’s conjured stone shield, craving away layer after layer but Eha wasn’t worried this wasn’t the first time they’ve had to endure a drake’s breath attack. Her shield would hold as long as she added a little extra mana and after 10 seconds the stupid beast would not only run out of juice it’d be in a state of weakness for the next half minute or so.

’2, 3, 4, 5’ Eha counted silently in her head, treating this battle like a mathematical equation, perfectly timing and predicating all possible response from the two frost drakes but strangely something wasn’t adding up.

She still didn’t know how these two drakes found their camp and why she or Lur never noticed them before now.....it was strange and unnerving, like an itch you just couldn’t scratch. Something was wrong but she didn’t know what, her instincts as an experienced adventurer were warning her but she kept drawing blanks.

’6, 7, 8’ as the seconds passed that feeling only grew stronger and for some reason she didn’t know why but she turned her head to the right, peering into the foliage as if sensing something foreboding lurking within.

Rustle.

It was a brief flash, but she definitely saw something move. Her blood ran cold as she turned her neck further. There she saw Lur moving a little out of position as he readied himself to launch an arrow straight down the frost drake’s throat the moment its breath stopped.

"LUUUURRR!!!" His mistake was relatively minor and generally not something to be worried about, but it did give something an opening to strike.

The instant Eha called Lur’s name and he started to turn around in confusion something leaped out from the foliage, it was large, covered in white fur and sprouted a set of large, feathered wings on its back but Lur didn’t get much chance to admire its beauty before the monster’s jaws clamped down on his head and ripped it from his shoulder as it passed by, like a flash of lightning.

Kiba had made his move.