A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing-Chapter 714 - Battle for the throne [1/2]

The by-now-familiar sigil flash followed, but they weren’t transported anywhere, nor were their minds sucked into an illusion. In fact, the barrier in front of them came down, seemingly leaving them only a dozen steps away from the throne.

Or so it seemed...

Immediately after the barrier came down, the surrounding space warped and bent around them. Before they could even take a step, the dozen steps remaining somehow both elongated and stretched until they suddenly found themselves at least a handful of football fields away.

As this happened, Erik’s eyes widened, not from shock at what was happening, but from his spatial affinity going crazy. He could feel the aetherium forcing the very space itself to obey whatever sigil was doing this, and he was awed. Spatial insights poured into his brain as he stood in the middle of this extremely powerful usage of it.

"Shit..." he cursed, awestruck, and wondering when he’d be able to do this. Erik was not someone who’d wonder about an ’if’...

"Wow," Naeku muttered next to him. She was amazed as well, but she only saw the effect, rather than feeling the process like Erik did.

Yet, it was mere seconds before they were ripped from their thoughts by a cacophony of roars and growls. With another sigil flash, dozens of large, mythical monsters appeared between them and the throne, ranging from manticores to gargoyles, to even a single, red-scaled dragon in the back.

These were creatures from all over the universe, many of which once existed on Earth and were the source of human myths. Erik’s eyes widened. He knew several of them from Söl, and some of them, especially the dragon, were already born at levels that exceeded the second rank by a mile.

For a moment, he was afraid this test was impossible... but then he actually felt the power coming from these creatures, and realised they were only at the second rank. That was also when he realised they weren’t real. Since these creatures couldn’t naturally exist at this power ranking, they had to be something similar to solid form sigil constructs, specifically created to match Naeku’s rank.

This thought relieved him, but only for a moment. Second-rank creatures though they are, they were still innately powerful, and there are a lot of them, not to mention that dragon was larger than a house.

At the same time, he suddenly felt a weight press down on him as something suppressed him down to the second-rank. He still possessed all his skills and abilities, but their power had been significantly reduced.

Naeku and Erik stood there for a moment, spines stiff as they came to terms with the challenge in front of them. The creatures growled, roared, and scraped their nails against the stone, but they seemed content to wait.

"You may have guessed it already," Eira explained, floating beside them as she pointed at the throne behind all these creatures, "but the test here is for Naeku to sit on that throne and claim her inheritance—meaning you don’t need to kill everything, you just need to get through them."

She turned to look at them with a comforting smile. "You won’t die, of course. There’s sigils in place that will teleport you back to the statue outside if they determine you’re about to die."

Erik frowned deeply, his thoughts drifting to Elora. "But that would count as a failure, right?"

Turning a little sombre, Naeku nodded.

"Don’t worry," Naeku grinned from his side, punching his arm. "I defend; you smash, and we’ll save Elora in no time."

Erik smiled, Naeku’s words comforting him. "Right you are," he grinned, and stretched both arms out to his sides while glancing at Eira. "Eira? Can I still count on you, despite your new... situation?"

Eira giggled and smiled brightly, "Of course! You can always count on me!"

With that, her form disappeared, and the earth-coloured sigil core in Erik’s armguard flashed. Immediately afterwards, his armour extended across his body, he changed into werewolf form, and his warhammer appeared in his hand. Fortunately, Eira’s efforts and repair sigils had fixed the holes in his armour from when he faced that trio from Maghreb.

At the same time, next to him, Naeku turned into her werepanther form and armed herself as well. A short spear—which Erik created for her in the past—appeared in her right hand, and green runes appeared on her left underarm, quickly forming into an oval shield of brambles and leaves. Finally, her eyes flashed as she activated nature sense.

When they were ready, they charged...

Erik surged forward, lightning roaring across his limbs and armour as snowflakes crystallised around him. Naeku glided alongside him, effortlessly skating on a swirling river of sand, spear at the ready. The moment they moved, the monsters surged forward too.

A pair of manticores lunged first, wings outstretched as venomous tails lashed out. With a grim expression, Erik swung his hammer, crackling with thundersnow. It collided with the first manticore’s chest, blasting it backwards in an explosion of ice and lightning. Electrified grains of snow then peppered a handful of other creatures in the aftermath, causing them to roar in anger and pain.

Although suppressed, Erik was innately still a third-ranker...

Meanwhile, Naeku shifted fluidly, deflecting the other manticore’s tail strike with her shield. Instantly, her spear elongated, puncturing its throat before she whipped it back to normal length and propelled herself forward, skating atop waves of sand to flank another group of beasts.

Minor elongation like this was the effect Erik had forged into her spear, and Naeku made good use of it.

Unfortunately, this was only the first clash. The battlefield became chaotic as more creatures pressed in. Gargoyles descended from above, claws extended. At the same time, two wendigos and a pack of gnolls sprinted across the floor in their direction, saliva dripping from their sharp fangs. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Erik spun, roaring as a storm of thundersnow surrounded him. Then he gaped his maw and howled as he unleashed a cone of ice shards. The storm and shards together froze half the gargoyles and sent them tumbling to the floor, where they shattered into pieces.

A few steps away, Naeku sand-skated to the front and waved her spear in front of her with a roar. Sand-coloured runes appeared on her hands and a blast of sand exploded along hear spear, turning into a wave through her own movement. The creatures attacking them roared and stumbled as grains of sand created many small wounds.

Yet the dragon, house-sized and formidable, loomed ominously ahead. It drew a deep breath, chest scales glowing with a fiery crimson intensity.

"Get down!" Erik shouted, knowing what was coming.

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by (f)reew𝒆b(n)ov𝒆l.com